


Out of Ashes: A Zootopia Story

by JosephWildeHopps



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Family, Multiverse, Romance, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-01-12 10:23:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 32
Words: 145,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18444626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JosephWildeHopps/pseuds/JosephWildeHopps
Summary: Nick and Judy have had some crazy adventures as cops in Zootopia, but when a young fox claiming to be from another world--a human world--arrives in the city, things begin to get stranger than they could have imagined. Will their lives and their world fall to ruin...or will they learn that beauty truly can come out of ashes?Previously published on Wattpad as "Zootopia: The Convergence".





	1. Arrival

Joseph was starving, and the Monster knew it.

He'd been wandering through this barren wood for almost two weeks now, and in that entire time he had eaten nothing but tree bark and pine needles, his only drink the muddy water he found in puddles on the forest floor. The only chance he had at catching anything to eat would be to let the Monster loose, which was exactly what he was trying to avoid at all costs. He knew, however, that he couldn't hold out for much longer—if he didn't eat soon, the Monster would come out, and it would take care of their needs itself.

He could already feel it happening. The gnawing hunger in his unbearably empty stomach was fast being obscured by the fire that was flooding through every cell of his body as the Monster slowly but surely emerged from within. He could feel his bones beginning to crack and reform as it took hold of his body, felt his muscles stretching and the razor-sharp teeth stabbing down through his gums. It felt like the entirety of hell had been unleashed inside his body at once. Knowing that the change couldn't be far off, he could only hope and pray that he was too far away from any kind of civilization to hurt anyone.

Gritting his teeth against the pain, Joseph Solomon trudged through the wet, muddy terrain, clogged with fallen leaves, as the deluge of rain continued around him. Each step was more impossible than the last, bringing fresh waves of pain and hunger. Looking up through the half-barren branches of the woods to the lightning-torn sky, Joseph could already notice the edges of his vision becoming blurred and red. He ran his hands up and down his sodden arms, only to find that the scaly skin had already begun to appear. With one last arduous step, Joseph fell to his knees in agony, all his energy gone, and waited for the Monster to take him.

It would come, once again, with its razor-sharp claws, crushing teeth, and a vicious hunger and rage so powerful that it had already claimed the lives of dozens. As he lay in the mud, images that were the only memories he had of when the Monster took over flashed through his mind, making his empty stomach churn and acid rise in his throat. Steel torn by the strength of its claws…a once pristine white lab coat, now shredded and soaked with red…the feeling of soft flesh tearing beneath the force of his jaws, a torrent of hot, salty blood pouring over his tongue…

The wave of grief and remorse that hit him was a thousand times worse than the pain of the change.  _No,_  he thought, digging at his belt for the tool he thought would be his salvation.  _NO. NEVER. AGAIN_. From among the sodden folds of his coat he grasped the handle of the hunting knife he'd been carrying for months. He didn't use it for defense - the Monster could take care of that quite well - but for food, on the occasions that he could actually find it. But not this time. No, this time the blade was for him, and him alone.

Joseph unsheathed the shining blade and held the tip to his throat, resting the hilt against the sodden earth so that blade was aimed straight up against his Adam's apple.  _No more_ , he thought _. I will not live like this anymore._  He pressed the blade into his quivering flesh, which was fast being overtaken by the Monster's scales. He had to do it now, or it would be too late. He was ready.

It was time for him to die.

Just as he was about to thrust the blade hilt-deep into his trachea, the pain rippling through his limbs and body increased a million times. He let out a shriek of agony as a spasm tore through his arm, hurling the knife off to the side where it was lost from his rapidly deteriorating vision. The pain choked him, held him down. He lay flat on his stomach, writhing and agony, in so much pain that he could not draw the breath to scream. It was too late. He was going to black out, and he was going to change. As the darkness clouded his vision, Joseph thought he saw something in the distance: a bright light, coming towards him.  _Oh, please,_  he thought, thinking that he was dying.  _Please, let this be the end._

His hopes for death, however, were soon dashed. As the blazing light drew closer, Joseph saw through his blurred, blood-red vision that the light split in two, becoming a pair of orbs that shone brightly in the night. It wasn't the light at the end of the tunnel.

It was headlights.

 _No_ , Joseph thought in terror.  _Please, no_. He could have sworn that he miles away from any kind of civilization. There were no roads anywhere near here. So why was there suddenly a car coming towards him?

As the last of Joseph's strength drained from his body, he went limp on the ground and the lights passed him by. Silently hoping that no one would find him, Joseph gave one final gasp, laid his head in the mud and let the darkness take him.

* * *

Although the sprawling metropolis of Zootopia was still bustling with animals going to and fro in the late morning hours, Judy Hopps was bored out of her little bunny skull. Virtually no cases had come across Police Chief Bogo's desk in the last week, and so, by default, Judy and her partner had been given the task of watching for speeders and waiting for a call from dispatch. They were currently seated in their almost comically oversized cruiser in the small parking lot of a second-hand store on Amazon Avenue. Nick Wilde, Judy's red fox partner and the first fox in the Zootopia Police Department, sat in the cruiser's passenger seat, his wide green eyes trained on the game of Sudoku he was playing on his phone.

Judy and Nick had been police partners for just over five months now, and they had been the best months of Judy's life. She got to spend all day, every day, with her best friend in the world. Sure, he could be annoying sometimes—after all, it was  _Nick Wilde_ -but Judy loved him for it. As a matter of fact, for the past three-or-so months, the pair had been quite a bit more than best friends. It hadn't taken long after Nick joined the ZPD and was assigned as Judy's partner for the both of them to realize that there was a very special chemistry between them, a chemistry which had been formed during their impromptu partnership during the Night Howler Crisis. Throughout the process of Nick's application to the Academy, his training, his graduation, and his eventual assignment as Judy's partner, the fox and the bunny had grown closer and closer, until neither of them could any longer deny that they had feelings for one another that passed outside the bounds of professionalism or even friendship.

Nick had been the first one to actually open up about it. In the summer of 2017, after a few months of them working together, he had asked Judy out on the first date of her life. It wasn't anything extravagant—Nick had bought her dinner at a fancy restaurant in Sahara Square and then taken her for a walk along the downtown shoreline of Lake Pax, the giant watering hole upon which the city had been built. As they had stood there, gazing out over the water, Judy had found herself almost unconsciously inching towards Nick in the quiet of the night, eventually pressing herself against his side, her paw clasped tightly in his.

They stood like that for a while, silent, each simply enjoying the presence of the other. After several minutes of blissful silence, Nick slowly turned so that he was facing the bunny, their bodies mere centimeters apart. "Judy," he whispered, his voice almost inaudible. The rabbit immediately lifted her violet eyes to his emerald ones, startled that he had used her name—he almost always called her "Carrots" or "Fluff" or some other nickname. The only other time she could remember him calling her by her real name was when they had tumbled into the water outside of Cliffside Asylum—when Nick had, for the briefest moment of sheer panic, thought that he had lost her.

"Yeah, Nick?" she responded, her voice little more than a breath.

"Thank you," he said quietly, his eyes showing a vulnerability he rarely ever allowed. "Thank you for being my friend, my partner. Thank you for believing in me when no one else did. Thank you…for saving me."

Before Judy had time to respond, Nick leaned down and, with a gentleness she never would have expected from him, pressed his lips to hers in her very first kiss.

It was at that moment, as she let herself melt into Nick's tender embrace, that Judy knew nothing would ever be the same. She would never be able to see Nick Wilde as just a friend ever again. In one moment, he became so much more. He was now her partner, her boyfriend, her confidante, her rock-and now, she was beginning to think, as she sat in their cruiser on this unusually chilly October morning, Nick Wilde just might be the love of her life.

Having only been in a relationship for a few months, neither of them had said the L-word yet-not in  _that_  sense anyway. They'd had the whole "You know you love me" moment their first day on the job together, but that was when they were just partners and best friends, not a couple. Now Judy was beginning to wonder if it was time to say it. She glanced over at Nick, still playing on his phone, and took him all in: the big green eyes, the red fur, the bushy tail, the delicate paws gently tapping on the screen...the paws that held her after she'd poured her heart out under that bridge, the paws that bound her wound when she'd been injured in the museum. The paws she knew she would always be able to trust. She wondered, for a moment, what her life would be like if she had never met Nick Wilde. As she pictured it, a sudden stab of pain twisted her heart, and she couldn't help but let out a tiny gasp. She saw in an instant a life without Nick in it-and she hated it. Couldn't even stand to think about it. She realized that she needed him. She couldn't live without him.

She was in love with him.

But she couldn't tell him yet.

"You okay, Carrots?" he said, startled by her little gasp.

"Yeah!" Judy said hurriedly, trying to hide her blush going through her ears. "I think I just...dozed off a little, that's all."

"And I thought  _you_  were supposed to be the responsible one in this partnership!" Nick said with his characteristic sly grin. Seeing that grin set Judy's heart racing. She quickly looked out the windshield in an effort to hide the warmth spreading through her cheeks and ears.

"Well, I can't do all of the work all of the time, can I?" she quipped back.

"What work?" Nick retorted playfully. "We've been sitting here for two hours and haven't had one speeder!" He sounded as though he was really hoping for one. Judy had to admit, some action would be nice.

"Well," she sighed, "hopefully we'll get a different assignment soon so we don't have to just sit here all day."

As if on cue, the transponder on the ceiling of the car beeped, alerting the duo to an incoming command. It was Chief Bogo.

"Hopps! Wilde! Come in!"

Judy reached for the mic, but Nick was faster. He grabbed it from the roof and clicked the button. "Wilde here, sir. What's the problem?"

"Are you two busy at the moment?"

"Not even remotely, sir. No action all day."

"Good. We just got a call from dispatch about a situation not too far from you, 8600 block of Chestnut. A shopkeeper called in reporting a haggard-looking fox wandering around outside the store. Apparently when she went out to ask if he needed help, he started yelling and screaming and asking where he was and what was happening to him." Bogo sounded rather concerned – more concerned than usual for a routine homeless-animal pickup. "I need the two of you to go and pick him up before he hurts someone—or himself. Try to calm him down, talk some sense into him, and bring him back to the station."

"Sure thing, Chief. We'll be right there." Nick was about to place the mic back in its holster when Bogo's voice came once again from the speaker.

"One more thing, Wilde. Be careful with this one. He seems to be unusually off his rocker."

"Well, how's that, sir? I need some details," Nick said, confused.

"One of the things he kept shouting was…" There was some rustling of papers as Bogo apparently searched for his notes. "Here it is. He kept shouting, 'Why the hell are there talking animals everywhere?'"

Nick cast Judy a worried look. They'd dealt with several cases of raving homeless before, but they'd never had one quite  _that_  unhinged. "We're on our way, sir." Nick put the mic back into its holster, switched on the sirens, and motioned for Judy to go.

So much for an uneventful morning.

* * *

By the time Nick and Judy arrived at the scene downtown, a large crowd had already gathered to watch the show. The pair had to forcefully push through the mob of mammals, flashing their badges and saying they were ZPD, because the crowd was too thick to get the cruiser through. Once finally on the other side of the mass of animals, Judy could clearly see the suspect: a young red fox, caked in mud, sitting on the ground with his back up against a streetlight, rocking back and forth as gut-wrenching sobs tore their way out of his muzzle. The kit's only clothing was what appeared to be a filthy, torn-up t-shirt that was more suited to a wolf than a mammal of his size. Judy was about to approach him, but Nick placed his paw on her shoulder in a protective gesture. "You handle the crowd," he said. "I've got this." She was about to object, but Nick was already walking towards the fox.

It wasn't that Nick wanted all the action for himself-although he had been horribly bored up to this point in the day-but the guy looked pretty messed up, and he didn't want Judy to have to take him on if he went nuts. The mere thought of her ever getting hurt again like she'd been in the museum was too painful for Nick to even think about.

Nick slowly approached the young fox, his paws up in what he hoped was a non-threatening gesture. "Sir, please calm down," he said in a soothing voice.

Hearing the newcomer, the young red fox snapped his head up, throwing flakes of dried mud everywhere. He was absolutely filthy-it looked like he hadn't bathed in weeks. His eyes were wild, the pupils dilated so much that barely any of his brownish iris was visible. Nick immediately felt his right paw descend slightly towards the taser at his waist.

"Just calm down, buddy, okay?" Nick said, taking slow, tentative steps toward the fox, gradually beginning to crouch down so as to be on eye-level with him. "My name is Nick, Nick Wilde. I'm an officer with the Zootopia Police Department. If you'll just calm down and come with me, my partner and I will be happy to answer any questions you have."

Instead of calming him down, Nick's arrival seemed to only heighten the fox's state of panic. Quickly scanning Nick from head to toe, running his eyes over the shining police uniform, the crazed fox yelled out, " _Talking fox cops?! What… the hell… is happening…"_  Suddenly, with a sharp cry, the fox rolled onto his side, curling into the fetal position and beginning to sob wildly.

Nick gently and cautiously knelt down on one knee next to the fox and calmly placed his paw on his shoulder. The cub flinched slightly, but did not attack. Nick began speaking to him in the most soothing voice he could. "Look, buddy, I'm sure you've been through a lot, but you're safe now. Please, just come with me and I promise you that you'll be all right. Can you do that for me, bud?"

For a few seconds the fox continued to sob, and then, shakily, nodded his head. "O…okay," he said tentatively.

"Good," Nick said, immensely relieved. "Here, let me help you to my car." Nick tenderly helped the still-crying fox to his feet, his body still shaking with sobs. Noticing the shivers going through the kit's limbs and the way his breath clouded in front of him in the chilly morning air, Nick promptly shrugged off his ZPD coat, wrapping it around the shoulders of the shaking mammal. He continued to say soothing words as he led him to the cruiser, trying to keep the poor animal calm. "Shh…it's okay...you're okay now..." Judy saw him coming and opened up the back door of the car to let Nick and the fox in. She was rather in awe of how quickly Nick had managed to calmed him down. She'd never seen him act so gentle towards anyone but her. It was almost...fatherly.

Nick thought that this was good a time as any to try to gather what little information he could from the fox before they got him to the station. "Shh, you're okay. Hey, what's your name, anyway? Do you remember your name?"

It took several seconds for the frightened animal's sobs to become coherent words, but he finally managed to choke it out. In a quivering whisper he said, "M-m-my name's-s-s...J-J-Joseph. J-Joseph S-S-Solomon."


	2. A Whole New World

 

As the light of day pierced his eyelids, waking him from his slumber, the last thing Joseph remembered were the lights-the lights of the vehicle passing by him, blurred by the downpour and the blinding agony of the change. Then the pain and darkness had dragged him under. But things were different when he woke up. Usually when he woke up after a change, he was in a completely different location and felt sick and exhausted, and usually ended up vomiting up the blood and bones of whatever unfortunate animal had crossed his path the night before. But not this time. When he woke up, Joseph was lying in the exact same spot, in the exact same position. What was more, he didn't feel terrible like he usually did. He felt...rested.

Joseph raised his head and finally saw the terrain around him clearly. He was lying in a large grove of trees with a road running through it, a road which had definitely not been there the night before. Early morning sunlight filtered down through the few autumn leaves left hanging on the branches above. Peering through the tree line, Joseph saw that the road led to a large bridge crossing what seemed to be a lake, leading directly into the center of a huge city. Joseph forced himself to his feet and stepped out into the road, trying to get a good look at the city. It rose out of the water around it like some vast mountain on an island. The buildings were clearly man-made, but didn't resemble any architecture he'd ever seen. They looked much more naturalistic than the buildings he'd seen in places like Chicago and Las Vegas.

He didn't understand-he was certain that he'd been far beyond civilization last night. And yet, here he was, standing at the gates of a gleaming metropolis unlike anything he'd ever seen.

That was when Joseph began to notice something strange. He felt shorter and warmer than he usually did. He also felt...thinner. More wiry and sleek, not thick-chested and muscled as he had been last night. Glancing down at himself, and then over to the spot where he had passed out the previous evening, he noticed that his coat, pants, and shoes were lying in a pile among the underbrush. The only clothing he was wearing was his ratty, mud-encrusted t-shirt—except it now seemed to be almost twenty sizes too big for him, the hem covering his feet and dragging on the earth. Staring down at the tattered garment, Joseph suddenly caught sight of his nose in the middle of his field of vision...except it wasn't  _his_  nose. It was long and orange and ended in a black snout.

_What in the_... Joseph brought his hand up to touch the strange thing on his face, and he realized that something was very, very wrong. His hand was no longer a hand, but a paw. A fox's paw, covered in black fur, padded on the inside of the palm, with little claws on the four fingertips—and, somehow even more strange, an opposable thumb.

Beginning to panic, Joseph hurriedly inspected his arms and legs and found that they, too, were covered in orange fur. He brought his hands-no, his paws-up to his face, and found that the bone structure had completely shifted. His face was long and narrow, and he'd grown sharp teeth lining his jaw, and had large, triangular ears sticking up from the back of his skull. Truly horrified now, Joseph slowly looked over his shoulder and down his back, and saw, to his utter terror, a huge, bushy orange foxtail peeking out from the hem of his t-shirt. Hoping against hope that it wouldn't work, that he was just dreaming or hallucinating from hunger or dehydration, Joseph cautiously flexed his tailbone.

The tail twitched to the side.

Joseph was beginning to hyperventilate. Trying to fight off the panic, he looked around for something, anything to anchor him to reality. Off to his right, just next to the road, he saw a large puddle made by the rain the night before. He ran over to it, nearly tripping over his tail and the hem of his shirt, and looked at his reflection, wishing, hoping that the reflection staring back at him was his own. But it wasn't.

The only face he saw was that of a very frightened-looking fox.

The human-turned-fox was in full panic mode now. He was spinning around in circles trying to inspect himself, and he was beginning to cry hysterically. He knew that if he didn't calm down soon, the stress would more than likely bring out the Monster. He fell to his hands and knees in fear, trying to get a grip on himself. As his breathing began to slow, Joseph realized that he needed help. He needed someone, anyone, to tell him what was going on. He knew he had to go into the city. He had to get help, even if it meant temporarily exposing himself to the public.

But then the thought hit him, the horrible, terrifying thought: he was a  _fox_. He couldn't just walk into a city and expect people to talk to him! Joseph started to curl into a fetal position, resigned to his fate, when a thought occurred to him: he had stood up. He wasn't just any run-of-the-mill wild fox; he could walk on two legs, just like a human. He was anthropomorphic.

He wondered if he could talk, too.

Afraid of what he would hear, Joseph cautiously opened his mouth and tried to speak.

"Hello?" came the scratchy but familiar sound of his own voice.

Joseph sighed in relief. He could walk upright. He could speak. That meant that, even if everyone ran from the strange, mud-caked fox walking on two legs, maybe he at least stood a chance of getting someone to listen to him. Steeling himself for what was to come, Joseph shakily got to his feet, took a deep breath, and began to trudge slowly towards the city.

* * *

Joseph Solomon had experienced some pretty strange things in his life. He'd been abducted by the people he'd trusted, the people he'd pledged his allegiance to, and been torn apart and put back together again and again and again. He'd seen the results of horrifying experiments that looked like something out of a nightmare. He'd changed into a horrific monster on numerous occasions and caused indescribable terror, just like something out of a Brothers Grimm fairytale. Hell, he'd watched on live TV as aliens poured out of a hole in the sky and got beaten up by a giant green rage monster and a blonde dude with a magic hammer. But this-this took the freakin' cake.

He hadn't exactly expected his arrival to go  _well_ , but he certainly didn't expect it to go like this. The first thing he noticed when he entered the city was that there were no people-only animals. Walking upright, wearing clothes, talking on phones, listening to music, acting just like normal humans in a normal city would. Trying to take it all in was just too much for Joseph; he seemed to have temporarily lost his mind. Logically, it should have calmed him-after all, weren't walking, talking animals more likely to listen to another walking, talking animal? But logic had fled far from Joseph at this point. Now he could only wonder just what in the hell had happened to him. Once, he'd thought that seeing a billionaire in a metal suit and a guy dressed up as a flag throwing a frisbee around and fighting aliens was the craziest thing he'd ever see. Then, he'd thought that the horrific experiments he'd been subjected to would top anything else he'd ever experience. And now—well, now there was this.

He had no plan at this point. He simply wandered, weakly crying "help" to anyone who passed by. All of the animals looked at him with distaste and caution, but not with the incredulity and fear with which he was staring at them. When a beaver wearing a plaid shirt and glasses came out of an electronics store and asked him if he was alright, Joseph lost it. The concept of engaging in a conversation with a beaver was so insane that Joseph simply broke. He started screaming and running around, begging someone, anyone, to tell him what was going on. He wanted nothing more than to awaken from this strange, horrifying dream.

When the cops showed up, Joseph was sure he was going to die. Not because he thought the officer was going to kill him—he just seriously thought his brain was going to overload and he'd have a stroke. Taking it all in at once was far, far too much. Joseph was sure that his mind was going to stretch to such a length that it was simply going to break his body.

The prospect wasn't as frightening as he would have thought.

Then he heard a voice. The cop's voice. The other fox. It was…soothing. Calming. It helped quiet his mind enough to become conscious of the things around him again. Just enough to get some measure of control over himself. It had been a long time since he'd heard a voice that felt like that, a voice filled with genuine compassion.

Whatever it was in that fox's voice, it helped him. Helped him find the will to keep going. So Joseph did what this fox told him, went with him to his car, hoping against all hope that he would soon get some answers.

_At least he stopped crying,_  Judy thought, relieved. The loud, obnoxious sobbing of the decrepit young fox in the back seat of the cruiser was really beginning to grate on her nerves. Now he'd at last subsided into sniffling and the occasional shuddering breath.

Judy had wanted to have some sort of action today, but this wasn't quite what she had had in mind. Not driving a dirty, homeless, and apparently insane young fox to the police station. She'd just gotten the cruiser cleaned, for Pete's sake! Now the fox was shedding flakes of dried mud all over the back seat. No, Judy was not happy about this at all.

She glanced over at Nick in the driver's seat to see how he was handling the situation. He had his eyes fixed on the road in front of him and appeared to be in deep thought. He had a very concerned look on his face. Judy figured that he was probably more sympathetic to this homeless mammal than to the others they'd picked up, since he was a fox like Nick. She could understand that. All the cops in the ZPD had some sort of soft spot for their own species-everyone in Zootopia did, actually.

Once they had parked at the station, Nick immediately hopped out of the driver's seat, helped the fox named Joseph Solomon out of the car, and led him into the station. He was still shivering-with cold, fear, or sorrow, Nick couldn't tell. All he knew was that he wanted to keep him away from Judy in case he got violent. But he also wanted to help the young kit. Seeing Joseph crying on the ground had hit Nick a little bit too close to home. Reminded him just a little too much of a nine-year old fox in a Ranger Scout's uniform crying by a staircase in the dead of night.

Chief Bogo greeted the trio the moment they walked through the doors. "Good job, you two," he boomed in his commanding buffalo baritone. "I'll take him from here."

"Um, actually sir," Nick said cautiously, "If you don't mind, I'd like to get him a little cleaned up first before anyone starts grilling him. He looks like he's had a pretty rough time." Nick motioned to Joseph and glanced over at him, seeing that he had his head tilted back and was staring up at Bogo with a mixture of fear and awe. Bogo stared right back.

"Hmph," he grunted. "Fine. Just make it quick, Wilde."

"Thank you, sir," Nick said. With a respectful nod, Nick put his paw and Joseph's shoulder and led him toward the locker room, Judy not far behind.

The trio made their way down the stairs to the bottom level of the station. "Come on, buddy," Nick said gently, again in that fatherly tone. "We've got some showers and extra clothes in the locker room. We're gonna get you nice and cleaned up, and then we'll just ask you a few questions, okay?"

"Th-th-thanks," stuttered the fox. Keeping his muzzle pointed at the ground, he flitted his eyes briefly to Nick's. "Do—do you think I could…"

Nick stopped in the middle of the hallway. "What is it, bud? What do you need?"

The haggard vulpine looked up at Nick with a sheepish expression. "Do you think I could g-get something to eat?" he asked tentatively. "P-please. I've h-had n-nothing but t-tree bark for t-two weeks." As if on cue, an almost comically loud growl issued from Joseph's stomach.

"Oh, my God," Nick said, in awe that the mammal in front of him was even alive after not eating for so long. "Of course, of course. There's a vending machine right around the corner here. We'll take care of you, buddy, don't worry." He turned to the side and led the trio into the break room.

Once the fox who called himself Joseph had seated himself at one of the tables and devoured five bags of chips, six muffins, a couple of Pop-Tarts, and two cherry colas, he took a long, deep breath, the shaking in his shoulders finally subsiding. "Thank you," he muttered quietly. "I really needed that."

"Don't worry about it, bud," Nick said to him as he led him back out towards the locker room. "Let's go get you cleaned up." Nick stopped at the entrance to the locker room and turned around to look at Judy, who appeared to have every intention of following the two foxes in. "Whoa, where do you think you're going, Carrots?" he said, suddenly taking on a humorous tone. "This is the  _men's_  locker room. Wouldn't want to cause a scandal, now would we?"

"No, I guess not," Judy said, a little embarrassed. She reluctantly turned away from the locker room, not really wanting to leave Nick alone with a half-crazed homeless guy. As she looked back, Judy caught Nick's eye and saw him silently mouth the words " _I'll be fine_ " to her. She threw him a wink and headed back upstairs to their shared broom-closet of an office.

After showing Joseph how to work the shower and giving him a towel, soap, and a ZPD t-shirt and sweat pants to wear, Nick went to sit in the locker room while Joseph washed up. Nick sat on the bench by the lockers, thinking. He wanted to help this poor guy, but at the same time he wanted the day to be over and done with. He was planning on surprising Judy with a special date tonight, and he didn't really want to have Joseph on his mind for the rest of the day. Hopefully, he'd be able to hand him off to Bogo and that would be the end of it.

Once Joseph was all cleaned up and dressed, Nick led him upstairs to Bogo's office. He looked much better. Now that he was free of mud and standing relatively straight, Nick finally got a good look at him. He was a few inches shorter than Nick, and his fur was a lighter shade of orange than Nick's was. The fur that started around his jaw and continued down his chest was as white as snow, and his wide eyes, nervously scanning his surroundings, were the color of amber, as though the irises were formed out of tree sap that had hardened centuries ago. If Nick had to guess, he'd say the fox was probably in his late teens.

When the two vulpines walked into Bogo's office, Joseph's eyes quickly scanned everything, as if looking for any possible threats. Not finding any readily apparent, he relaxed a bit, but crossed his arms over his chest in an apparent attempt to hide the trembling in his paws.

"Wilde," Bogo said from behind the desk, "go fetch Officer Hopps, will you? I've decided I'd like you both to be here for the interrogation, since you both brought him in." At the word "interrogation" Nick could clearly see Joseph's muscles tighten. "The two of you should get some experience with this kind of thing in if it's still your ambition to be detectives."

"Absolutely, Chief," Nick said, casting what he hoped was a comforting glance at Joseph before quickly exiting the room. The last thing he saw before closing the door was Joseph nervously hopping up onto to one of the over-large chairs in front of the Chief's desk.

When Nick returned with Judy in tow, Bogo and Joseph were in the exact same positions, their eyes locked on each other, except Joseph was now noticeably shaking. Nick and Judy climbed up onto the chair at Joseph's right. Nick reached across the space between them and placed his paw on Joseph's shoulder in attempt to ease his nervousness. Once again, Joseph flinched from the unexpected contact, but did not pull away.

"Hey," Nick said. "You're okay. You're safe here. We're just gonna ask you some questions, okay? Will that be alright?"

Joseph took a long, deep breath, and nodded nervously.

"All right," said Bogo. "To start off with, what is your full name?"

After a moment of tense silence, the young fox quietly said, "Joseph. Joseph Anthony Solomon."

"How old are you?"

"Eighteen years old, sir."

"Place and date of birth?"

"March 30th, 1998, in Rockford, Illinois."

"Rockford what?" Bogo said, confused. He'd never heard of such a place. "What is 'Illinois'?"

Joseph raised eyebrows in an expression of slight incredulity. "It's a state. In America."

Bogo simply looked at him again in confusion. "And that means...?"

Joseph took a deep breath. "This isn't gonna be easy, is it?" He rubbed his paws across his face in a gesture of exhaustion. "Look, I'm not from here, okay? I'm not from..." Judy thought Joseph looked like he was steeling himself to make some sort of confession. "I'm not from...this world."

Bogo was beginning to get irritated. "What do you mean, you're not from 'this world'? What other world is there?"

"I didn't think there were any others, but apparently I was wrong. Because this world..." he looked around at the room, at Bogo, at Judy, and down at his own paws,"...is very, very different from the world I know."

Chief Bogo had talked with enough homeless animals in his tenure as an officer to know when they were insane. They were always erratic, yelling, trying to convince everyone of their delusions. This one was different. He was calm (albeit nervous) and sincere. His words sounded insane, but the way in which he spoke them was not. At this point in the questioning, Bogo would normally just ask the basic questions and then have the animal carted off to the psychiatric hospital. He decided to hear this one out.

Bogo leaned forward, placing his massive forearms on the desk. "All right," he said, trying to be gentle. "Why don't you just...tell me the whole story, if you can."

Joseph considered for a moment, as if weighing options in his head. At last, he spoke. "Okay," he said. "But I'm warning you, it's not pretty, and you're all probably going to think I'm insane by the end, if you don't already."

Chief Bogo let out a sarcastic laugh. "Son, I've seen a lot in my years as an officer. I won't be surprised by anything you tell me."

A shadow of apprehension and fear crossed Joseph's face, and a joyless laugh escaped his lips. "I rather doubt that," he said ominously.

And with that, he began to tell his story.


	3. The Fox's Tale

"To start off with, let me ask all of you a question," Joseph said, gazing around the room at his audience. "Do you know what a human is?"

"No," they all said in unison.

"Figures," he said. "Well, where I come from, there's only one species of intelligent, free-thinking life forms, and that's humans. That's what I am…or, was. Humans are mammals—primates, specifically-that share a common ancestor with apes. We look kind of similar to apes, except we walk upright and don't have fur all over our bodies, and we don't have thumbs on our feet. Really, this world looks pretty similar to my world, aside from the lack of humans and the presence of…walking, talking animals." The fox shook his head as he said the last few words, as though he was still incapable of believing that they were true.

"So," Nick interrupted curiously, "these...humans are the only species in your world?"

"No, not at all. We're just the dominant species, the ones at the top of the food chain. But the only reason we're at the top is because we're sentient. We have free will instead of just instinct, like every other animal. Other animals have different ranges of intelligence, but humans are the only ones who developed society and civilization. Technology, clothes, culture, weapons, that's all us. All the other animals—foxes, bears, rabbits, horses, all of them—they never evolved. They just live by instinct without any free will of their own."

"That doesn't make any sense," Judy said. "How could none of the other animals have evolved?"

The kit shrugged. "I don't know. They just didn't, only us. I was raised to believe that humans were created in the image and likeness of God, and animals were like helpers, but—" Joseph threw up his paws. "Who the hell knows? If He made us, it sure doesn't seem like He cares much about us now." The fox sighed. "Look, I know it's hard to understand, and probably even harder to believe. If someone had come to me a few years ago and told me that there was an alternate Earth inhabited entirely by intelligent animals where humans just didn't exist, I would've called them crazy. And yet, here I am."

Nick and Judy shared a look of concern. Everything this guy was saying was crazy-but he didn't sound crazy. "So," Nick said, trying to wrap his head around the concept, "what you're saying is that you come from a completely alternate Earth where, instead of all species of mammals being evolved, only this one species - humans - is evolved, and all the other animals are just...dumb slaves to their biological instincts, like fish and bugs?"

"Fish and bugs aren't sentient here?" Joseph asked.

"No," Chief Bogo responded from across the desk. "Only mammals."

"Huh. Well, yeah, that about covers it, I guess."

Chief Bogo stared at Joseph with a look of condescension. "I think you can understand why we find all that just a little bit difficult to believe."

"Yeah," Joseph said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Just imagine how I felt waking up in a world full of talking animals."

Bogo locked his intense gaze on Joseph, who seemed to be closely examining his arms. "All right," he said. "Let's say we accept the fact that this alternate Earth exists and that you've somehow crossed over to this Earth. Do you have any idea how you got here?"

Joseph shook his head. "No idea. I've heard about stuff like the multiverse theory and interdimensional rifts on the Discovery Channel, but there's never been any solid proof of it. I was just wandering around in what I thought was a completely deserted forest and..." Joseph stopped, nervous. He looked as if he was about to say something, but then thought better of it. "...and then I just...passed out. I woke up this morning like this, a few miles outside of a city that wasn't there before."

Bogo knew that the fox was hiding something. And he could not abide by that. "You're lying," he intoned menacingly. "There's something you're not telling us."

Joseph looked at Bogo, suddenly defiant. "Believe me when I say, you don't want to know the whole truth about me. It's far from a pretty story, and for all I know, it could get you killed."

Bogo was getting angry now. He stood up and bellowed, "I don't really CARE whether or not it's pretty! What I want to know is, if what you've been saying is, in fact, true,  _do you or do you not pose a threat to my city?!"_

Judy could now see that Joseph was very distressed. He was taking rapid, shallow breaths and he was beginning to shake. For some reason, he was also digging his claws into his arms, as if trying to get control of himself.

"Fine," he said through gritted teeth. "I'll tell you. But do me and yourself a favor. Don't make me angry. You really wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

"I'm sure," Bogo said with a sneer as he settled back into his chair. He motioned to Joseph with his hoof. "Go on."

Joseph drew in another deep breath and began to speak. "I was sixteen when it happened. I don't know why they picked me, but I'm guessing it had something to do with the fact that no one would question it if I just disappeared. Which makes sense, given when and how they grabbed me."

"Hold on," Nick interrupted. "What do you mean 'picked you'? Who picked you for what?"

"I was about to get to that. I've had…really bad depression and anger issues all my life, and when I was sixteen, I decided I didn't want to live with it anymore, so I went to the bridge on the south side of town and tried to kill myself."

"Oh, my God," Judy muttered, her voice full of concern. "What…what stopped you?"

"The government," Joseph responded with venom in his voice. "I was standing on the railing and was about to jump when a van pulled up behind me. Before I could even turn around to look at who was getting out, they'd pulled me back from the edge and knocked me out. They took me to a top-secret military base in the Nevada desert called Area 51. Most people think the base is concerned with aliens, but that's all because of a hoax the government orchestrated when the base was founded, trying to throw people off the scent. Really, the base is a research facility, focused on making super-soldiers. The government had had a super-soldier serum before, but the scientist who made it was killed and the last of the serum vanished not long after when the only person it had been used on vanished in the Arctic. Without the serum, the government decided to try to make super-soldiers through cross-species genetics."

"Hold on," Bogo interrupted. "What is 'cross-species genetics'?"

Joseph gulped nervously. "Basically gene splicing," he said. "They were trying to make hybrids of humans and predatory animals for use as super-soldiers."

"Oh, my goodness." Judy said, putting her paw over her mouth. She thought she was going to be sick. "Is that what they did to you?"

"Yeah," Joseph said, his voice flat. "But not right away. First, they ran a bunch of tests to make sure I was a viable subject. Once they determined that I was, they started gene therapy." Joseph took a shuddering breath and closed his eyes, trying to get a hold of himself. "They gave me repeated injections of a serum containing the new DNA and then put me in a machine that reorganized my genetic code to assimilate the new code. It was…horrible." The fox was visibly shaking now, his breathing becoming heavier, tears beginning to form at the corners of his eyes. "I felt like I was being torn apart at the molecular level. Like every single pain receptor in my body was firing at once. I prayed for death, but it never came."

Nick reached over to Bogo's desk and grabbed a box of tissues, holding it out to Joseph. He gratefully took one. "Thanks," he said, wiping his nose and eyes. "So, since some of the scientists thought that this experiment had a good chance of working, they decided to splice me with the best predator they had. A velociraptor."

Judy furrowed her brow, somehow now even more confused. "A velociraptor?" she questioned. "Isn't that a dinosaur? Aren't they extinct?"

"They were," Joseph said, "and they should have stayed extinct, but humans are total idiots. Back in the '90s some old billionaire figured out a way to clone dinosaurs from blood they found in mosquitoes that had been caught in amber millions of years ago. The moron thought it would be a good idea to make an amusement park with dinosaurs." Joseph gave a sarcastic snort. "The first time he had people there the dinosaurs got loose and nearly slaughtered everyone. Then they built another one, and the exact same thing happened with a new genetic hybrid a couple of years ago. Anyway, the government managed to get a hold of some different samples of dinosaur DNA after the first park failed and brought them to Area 51. Fortunately for them, the raptors they'd made were a lot bigger and more ferocious than the original animals had been. I guess he wanted to make them more exciting. Three-inch claws, razor sharp teeth, capable of running at up to sixty miles an hour. Perfect for their soldier. And that's what they put into me."

"So," Nick stated speculatively, "you're telling us that you're…"

"Part dinosaur, yes," Joseph responded, avoiding eye contact. "And I somehow spontaneously changed into a fox and stumbled into an alternate dimension. Don't ask me how, because I have no idea."

Chief Bogo was silent for a moment before he addressed Joseph. "So," he rumbled, "they spliced your DNA with a velociraptor's. What happened after that?"

"They had to force my new traits to appear," Joseph explained. "The genetic mutation was dormant at first and needed to be kick-started. The best way to do that was through massive amounts of stress. So, they tortured me. A lot. Electrocution, ice baths, oxygen deprivation, the whole nine yards." Joseph's eyes had a vacant look about them, as if he was seeing into the horrors of his past. "I'm not sure how long the torture went on for. All I know is that the last time they did it, it killed me. Literally."

"You  _died_?" Nick asked him incredulously.

"Yeah," Joseph said in a deadpan tone. "For about three minutes, I think they said. I wish to God I'd stayed that way. Once they restarted my heart, all I remember is...fire. Fire in my skull, in my bones, everywhere. That was the raptor's traits coming out. The Monster, I call it. Later, they showed me the tape of what I'd turned into. I…I don't have the words to describe that. It was...I was...evil."

Joseph slowly leaned his head into his paws and began to sob, quietly at first, then hysterically. Nick once again placed his paw on Joseph's shoulder in a comforting manner, but this time, it didn't seem to have any effect. Bogo, shocked by everything he'd just heard, decided to let the fox cry himself out and continue when he was ready.

Joseph cried for several minutes without stopping. When he was done, Nick once again handed him the box of tissues. He blew his nose and apologized for his breakdown.

"It's okay," Bogo said in the gentlest tone he could summon. "Tell us what happened next."

"Well," Joseph said, his voice still shaking, "they ran tests on me for a while. I'm not sure how long. Everything after the first time I changed until I got out is hazy. It's almost as if there are huge gaps of time missing from my memory. After I escaped, I found out that I'd been down there for nearly eight months, but it didn't feel like nearly that long."

"And how did you manage to escape?" Bogo asked.

Joseph spoke quietly as the memories played through his head. "I remember being led down a hallway," he said. "For some reason, they didn't have me restrained. I can't really remember. It's all so blurry…" The cub raised a paw to his head as if he was developing a migraine. "All I know is that I changed, and…" Joseph closed his eyes, grimacing as though in pain. He was starting to feel sick to his stomach, and suddenly regretted eating half of the vending machine's contents downstairs. "I tore and ate my way out, killing everyone I saw. I can only remember bits and flashes of it, but there was a lot of blood. And screaming. I think some guards shot me, but it didn't matter. I was nothing more than a feral animal. A monster…savage."

Nick flinched at the last word. After the Night Howler Crisis, no one in Zootopia, him least of all, was overly fond of the word "savage".

"When I woke up in the middle of the desert and realized that I was free, I…I knew I could never go back home. It was too dangerous. Not only could I turn into a vicious monster, but I might drag government agents to my family. Not that there was ever really any love lost between us, but…they were still blood, and I didn't want them to get hurt. I knew the government would be hunting me...so I ran. I just ran, and I kept on running, hiding from everyone.

"I honestly thought that I'd never live in civilization again. I've been wandering the world for the last couple years, interacting with people as little as possible, trying to keep people safe from the Monster. Last night...I didn't want to deal with it anymore. I kept thinking about the things I'd done, what I was…" Joseph began to softly cry once again. "So, I tried to kill myself. I was about to change last night because I hadn't eaten in so long, and I had the knife at my throat, and I... I was about to do it...but...I blacked out. When I woke up, I was...like this. And I have no idea why."

There were several moments of tense silence as the three officers absorbed everything they had just heard. It all sounded absolutely and completely insane, and yet, they couldn't help but believe him.

"Well, that's it," Joseph said sheepishly. "That's my story."

For several seconds he sat in the chair before Bogo's desk, utterly silent, staring at the ground. Then, with one last heart-wrenching sob, his eyes clenched shut and he fell face-forward to the floor in a dead faint.

As soon as Joseph hit the ground, Bogo, Nick, and Judy all jumped to their feet in unison and trained their sidearms on him. Although they were all still mentally debating whether or not his story could possibly be true, all of them had had enough training to know not to take any chances.

They stood in a circle around him for a few seconds, waiting for him to move. When he did not so much as flinch, Judy knelt down next to him, placing her paw on his neck and testing his pulse. His heart was still beating, quite heavily.

"He's alive," she pronounced. "Probably just passed out from exhaustion."

After several minutes of tense prodding and shaking, Joseph finally woke up. He once again apologized to the officers and settled himself back into his chair. After taking another long drink of water, he said, "I imagine you all must have some questions for me."

"Yes, indeed," Bogo responded. "For the present moment, we are going to assume that everything you have just said is true, as you do not seem to have the bearing of one who has completely lost his mind." Bogo flipped on his spectacles and examined the notes he'd taken during the interview. "You said that you change into this...thing when you're starving or under extreme duress. When was the last time you changed?"

"I was partway through the change last night when I blacked out," Joseph explained. "The last time I changed completely was about three months ago. And it's really more based on survival instinct, I think, unless I'm subjected to extreme stress. If I'm starving, the Monster will take over and go hunting. If I'm threatened, it'll kill whatever's in front of me. It only operates on instinct, and it's always in the back of my head, waiting for a reason to come out."

"So, as far as you know, so long as you remain well-fed and reasonably calm, you're fine."

"As far as I know, yeah."

Bogo heaved an enormous sigh. "Alright," he said wearily. "Here's the deal. Everything that you have said sounds like the ravings of an absolute madman. Do you two agree?"

Judy and Nick both slowly nodded their heads.

"Okay. The thing is, I have been around quite a few madmen, and none of them, not one, has ever been as concise, articulate, and logical as you. Therefore, I am inclined to believe that either you are pulling an extremely elaborate hoax, or you are telling the truth. And I am also very good at seeing the lie in an animal's eyes, so I am reluctantly inclined to believe the latter. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I do, sir,"

"Very good. Here's what we're going to do. I don't want anyone else to hear about this except for the specialists whom I will specifically enlist. We do  _not_  want this getting out to the media, and the last thing we need is for the ZBI to come sniffing around. Understood?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good. Mr. Solomon, at some point in the near future, most likely within the next twenty-four hours, I will have Officers Wilde and Hopps escort you to the local hospital to undergo a series of genetic and psychological tests to ascertain once and for all the validity of your story. If you do not comply, you will be arrested, and the tests will be performed anyway. Do you choose to comply with the tests?"

"I do, sir."

"Good. Now, it will take a while for me to get all these tests scheduled, so unfortunately, you're going to have to spend the night here in one of our cells."

Joseph cast his eyes on the floor. "Okay," he said. He clearly did not want to spend the night in jail, even if he was not technically under arrest. After everything that had happened to him, he had developed a fear of cages and enclosed spaces. However, if it meant keeping others safe from him, he would do it.

Judy looked at the hunched-over fox, feeling immensely sorry for him. She didn't totally believe his story, but she also didn't feel like he posed much of a threat. He was almost…childlike. Despite what he had told them about himself, she couldn't help but see him as meek and nearly helpless. Something deep in her heart made her desperately want to help him, in whatever way she could. The same something that had made her stand up for Nick in that ice cream shop the day they'd met. If everything that this fox had said was true, he'd been through hell again and again. She knew she had to do something, anything to help him.

"Sir," she interrupted, "if it's okay, I'd rather that Mr. Solomon stay with me at my place."

Nick's head whipped around so fast Judy thought he was going to break his neck. Both he and Bogo said "what?!" at the same time. Bogo boomed, "Hopps, I can't just let you take a dangerous criminal to your home! Are you insane?"

"I don't think he's dangerous, sir, and he isn't a criminal. He's...a person of interest." Bogo deflated slightly at the bunny cop's words. As usual, she was right. "I just think it would be better if he stayed with me. After all, Nick lives with me, so I know I'll be perfectly safe." She batted her eyes at Nick, hoping that flattering him would get him on her side. He instantly softened towards her.

After she and Nick had resolved the Night Howler Crisis last year, Judy had been given a substantial pay raise and had begun looking for a better place to live than the tiny, dingy apartment she had at the Grand Pangolin Arms. She had found a nice little two-bedroom condo in Savannah Central that was only a few minutes west the police station, and suggested that Nick move in with her and they split the rent. After all, his apartment on Cypress Grove Lane was even dingier than hers—it had leaky pipes, rotten wood floors, and a louse problem that Nick couldn't seem to get rid of. The fox had leapt at the opportunity to live with his then-best-friend, and the two had moved in just after Nick had graduated the police academy.

"She does have a point, Chief," Nick said, coming back to the present. "We'd both be able to keep an eye on him, we can both defend ourselves, and we're the only ones besides you who know Joseph's story."

Before Bogo could respond, Joseph spoke up. "You guys really don't have to do that," he said, looking down at his feet. "Really, it would be safer if you didn't. In all honesty, your best bet right now is to take me out back and put me down."

"Yeah, there's no way in hell that's gonna happen," Judy said, her voice substantially more forceful than usual. "We don't give up on people, especially people in need. Even if they are…part dinosaur."

"Besides, we can hold our own, Joseph," Nick said with a proud glance at Judy. They'd been through a lot together, and each knew that they could count on the other. They both trusted each other with their lives.

Joseph cast Nick an ominous look. "For your sake I really hope you're right."

Bogo knew he wouldn't be able to change their minds. They were almost as stubborn as he was. "Fine," he said, exhausted. "But, if anything happens, it's all on the two of you. Got it?"

"Got it," they said in unison.

"Okay. You're all free to go then. I'll start working on getting those tests scheduled." Bogo looked down at his notes and said no more, indicating that the interview was over.

"Come on, Joseph," Judy said, taking the reynard's arm in her paw and leading him through the door.

Once the trio had left the precinct and had made their way out to the cruiser, Nick and Judy turned to face Joseph.

"You're gonna be fine, bud," Nick said, placing his paw on Joseph's shoulder. Joseph hesitantly raised his eyes to them, and then, faster than they would have thought possible, grabbed them both by the shoulders and pulled them into his arms.

Both Nick and Judy immediately tensed, thinking he might attack, but then they realized that he'd just pulled them into a bear hug and was softly crying onto their shoulders.

"Th-th-thank you s-s-so much," he said. He released them and dried his eyes. "It's b-b-been s-s-so long since someone s-s-stood up for me like that."

"Don't worry about it," Judy said. "It's...kinda what we do."

Joseph ran his paws over his face. "Sorry I'm so emotional," he said. "I guess being...what is it now, three different predators in one hasn't exactly changed that."

Nick cocked an eyebrow, confused. "What do you mean 'three different predators in one'?" he asked.

"Well, physically, I'm a fox now, and my DNA has velociraptor in it, and mentally, I'm a human. So that makes three in one."

"Humans are predators?" Nick asked. "I never really thought of apes as being the predatory type."

"They're not," Joseph said, "but we are. We're apex predators, actually. "

"Apex predators?" Judy asked. "What does that mean?"

"An apex predator is..." Joseph rubbed his paw over the back of his neck in a sheepish expression. "Basically, it's the predator at the top of the food chain. The one that...eats all the other ones. Really, we would probably be at the bottom of the food chain if we hadn't evolved. Biologically, we're about the weakest omnivores around. The only reason humans are apex is because we developed weapons and intelligence superior to all the other species on the planet." He paused for a moment. "We really have only one natural enemy, one that we can never seem to conquer, no matter how hard we try."

"And what enemy is that?" Nick asked, curious as to what sort of predator could possibly beat what Joseph was talking about.

Joseph paused with his paw on the door handle of the police cruiser. "Our own wretched selves," he said, a far-away look in his eyes. "I'm not sure what kind of problems you guys have here, but for your sake I hope it's nothing like the human world. I've seen some of the things that humans can do, and I can honestly tell you, there is nothing more dangerous than a human being. The lengths to which some are willing to go to get what they want...it's despicable." He looked down at his feet, lost in memory. "I had a good reason for wanting to jump off that bridge," he whispered.

Nick and Judy shared a concerned glance. "Well," Judy said, "whatever problems you have here, we're gonna help you through them." She put her paw on his arm, just like she had done with Nick in the gondola, all those months ago.

"Thank you," Joseph said. "You…you really can't know how much this means to me."

Judy smiled and lowered her paw, making her way to the driver's door. "Come on, foxes. Let's go home."


	4. Go the Distance

Nick wasn't exactly what one would call  _pleased_  with the current situation. He'd had a big, romantic evening planned for him and Judy, and now they were going to spend it settling Joseph into their home and keeping an eye on him.

Nick was perfectly happy to help Joseph, of course. In fact, he truly wanted to. It was just that he'd arrived at a rather inopportune time. The date he had planned for tonight wasn't going to be just any date. Tonight, Nick was planning on telling Judy exactly how he felt about her. He was going to finally go the distance. He was going to tell her that he loved her.

He'd known it for a long time. He'd known it the moment she put her paw on his arm in the gondola and told him that he was so much more than just a shifty, untrustworthy fox. No one had ever spoken to him that way before. He'd known at that moment that he loved her. His feelings hadn't been romantic at the time, but he knew in his heart that this persistent little bunny had forever changed his life.

That was why he had felt so betrayed by what she had said at the press conference. Nick knew that he loved Judy, and he truly thought that she had believed in him. She always did, of course, but those words that she'd spoken had hit Nick's heart like a thousand daggers. He'd known that she had just been nervous and had spoken without thinking. After all, she had said that he was different. But this...this  _betrayal_  had felt different from all the other ones he'd endured in his life. Why? The truth was that Nick had been scared. Scared that Judy was right. That he really was capable of hurting her, biologically predisposed to violence, especially against her kind. After all, if she thought that might be true, how could Nick believe in himself?

He didn't realize until after he'd walked away that he'd already hurt her in a much worse way than his claws or teeth ever could. He'd broken her heart.

When Judy had come to him under that bridge, he'd turned his back on her not because he hated her, but because he was scared. Scared that he would be hurt again. He couldn't, he  _wouldn't_ , live through that betrayal again. But when Judy had started crying, Nick's resolve and bitterness had shattered like cheap china. The thought of her being in pain because of his lack of forgiveness was too much. He couldn't do it. Those words,  _"I really am just a dumb bunny,"_  had broken his stony heart.

Ever since the incident with the Ranger Scouts, Nick had been an expert at hiding emotion. This time was no different. When he'd turned around and taken that crying bunny into his arms, neither his face nor his voice betrayed what he was truly feeling inside: that this was the happiest moment of his life. Inside, Nick Wilde was crying and laughing all at once, because he knew that he would do anything for Judy Hopps. He would live for her, and he would die for her, a thousand times over if need be. There were no lengths to which he would not go to keep her happy and safe. She was his reason to keep trying, his reason to live.

That's what Nick was going to tell Judy tonight. That she had saved him. That he owed her not just his life, but his heart and his soul, everything that he was. That he loved her and was  _in_  love with her, and he would never desire anyone or anything but her.

Unfortunately, their new houseguest had put something of a kink in Nick's plans.

Nick made his way into what had once been his bedroom on the left-paw side of the hallway, where Joseph would be staying for the time being. Nick had stayed in the room for the months preceding his and Judy's relationship, but, soon after they had started dating, the couple had begun sharing a queen-sized bed in Judy's room, an experience that gave him no small amount of butterflies on a nightly basis.

Joseph was looking around his new bedroom, taking it all in. It was a decent-sized room, about ten feet square, with a single window immediately opposite the door looking out at the Zootopian skyline. The bare walls were painted eggshell-white, the only furniture being the full-sized bed, a night stand, a chest of drawers, and a small corner desk that had been left by the previous tennants. Several boxes of knick-knacks and what-nots belonging to both Judy and Nick were also scattered about the room. The only belongings that Joseph had were a few sets of clothes from the police station. He had left his old clothes and hunting knife on the ground in the woods, so he didn't exactly have a lot of unpacking to do.

Nick leaned against the left side of the door frame, crossing his arms casually over his chest. He'd changed out of his police uniform and was now wearing a lemon-yellow Hawaiian shirt and purple-striped tie. "Hey," he said, announcing his presence. Joseph whipped around, suddenly startled. When he saw that it was just Nick, he relaxed.

"Oh, hey Nick," he said. "Uh, thanks for lending me your spare room. I really didn't want to impose like this."

"It's no problem, buddy," Nick said, waving his hand in a gesture of dismissal. "You should have seen the hole I was living in before I moved in with Carrots. Consider this...me paying it forward."

Joseph smiled at Nick and put his hands in the pockets of the police-issue sweatpants. Nick thought as he looked at Joseph that he seemed to be about the least-threatening fox he'd ever seen. But, as he himself had proven on numerous occasions, looks can be deceiving.

"You and Judy have a really nice place," Joseph said, trying to make conversation. "How long have you been together?"

"'Together'?" Nick questioned, raising his eyebrows.

"I'm broken, not blind," Joseph responded dryly. "I can tell by the way you two look at each other that you're a thing."

"Oh," Nick said, surprised by the fox's awareness. He thought he'd been pretty discrete about his relationship with Judy. "We've been dating for a few months, now. Since June."

"And you already live together?" Joseph asked.

Nick smirked. "Actually, we've been living here for close to six months, since right after I joined the force and got assigned as Judy's partner. We both lived in pretty crummy conditions before, and we figured that since we were already partners, we might as well be roomies, too. That was, let's see…about a year after we met."

Joseph was visibly surprised. "Well, that escalated quickly. What did you do to make her fall for you so fast?"

Nick chuckled. "Oh, believe me, I fell for her first. It was right after she became a cop, and…well, it's a long story."

There was a moment of silence. "Sorry, I didn't mean to pry," Joseph said.

"Oh, no, it's not that. It's just...complicated and crazy and involves conspiracies and an exploding train. Our relationship didn't exactly start off on the right foot."

"Seems to be going pretty good now, exploding trains aside. I'm, uh…I'm not keeping you two from anything, am I?"

"Well, I was planning on taking her out for a special date later, but it's not all that important."

Joseph was silent for a moment, his eyes suddenly downcast. "Dammit," he muttered, raising a paw to his face. "There I go again, getting in the way of other people's lives like the selfish piece of crap I am." Joseph plopped himself down on the bed and put his head in his paws. "God, I should have jammed that knife into my throat last night when I had the chance."

"Hey!" Nick said, crossing the room to sit at Joseph's side. "Don't talk like that. It's a date, it's not like you crashed our wedding or something. And you are  _not_  selfish. A selfish person doesn't up and leave their whole life to keep the people they love safe."

"Easy for you to say," Joseph said from behind his paws. "You're a cop. You're like the...spitting image of virtue and heroism."

Nick found that statement so utterly ironic that he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

Joseph lowered his paws from his face. "What's so funny?" he asked.

It took Nick a moment to regain his composure. "Joseph, hard as it may be for you to believe, I wasn't born a cop. Before I met Judy, I was...well, I was exactly what everyone would expect a fox to be."

"And what's that?"

"Shifty. Lying. Untrustworthy. I, um..." Nick hesitated, not sure if he wanted to share his past with a complete stranger. But, he thought, it's not like it could really do any harm. "I…had a bad experience when I was a kid. I wanted to join this Ranger Scouts troupe, but I was the only predator in there. So, when I was supposed to go through initiation, the other guys, they..." Nick gulped, trying to hide the pain of the memory. "They strapped a muzzle onto my face and threw me out. Told me no one would ever be able to trust a fox without a muzzle. So, after that, I decided that if everyone was only going to see me as a lying, cheating fox...what's the point of trying to be anything else?"

There was silence in the bedroom as Nick stared down at his feet. Then, Joseph spoke, his voice full of emotion. "I'm so sorry," he said. "I know what it's like. Not being able to see yourself as anything else than what people say you are. That's been my lot for most of my life."

"Yeah," Nick said. "Well, when I met Judy, she...she changed me. Showed me I could be something better." He lifted his paw and placed it on Joseph's shoulder, the same way his father had when he was a kit. "I think you're a good guy, Joseph. Don't let anyone else tell you that you're something less."

"You don't even know me," Joseph said in disbelief. "How could you know if I'm a good guy or not?"

"That's something else Judy taught me. Always try to see the best in people. And I don't have to look very hard to see the good in you."

Joseph smiled warmly. "Thanks, Nick. Sorry about your date."

"It's fine," Nick said again. "Anyway, I think Judy would like to sit down and get to know you better. How about we give you a little time to get settled in while we make some lunch and you meet us in the kitchen in a little while?"

"Sounds good," said Joseph. "Thanks again."

"No problem, bud," Nick said, turning out of the room.

Judy was in the small kitchen attached to the living room, pouring herself a bowl of blueberries for a snack. Nick, having silently slipped through the free-swinging door, walked over to her and put his arms around her from behind, planting a little kiss on the top of her head, right between her perky ears. "Hey, Carrots," he whispered. "How ya doing?"

Judy placed her paw on top of Nick's, immediately forgetting about the blueberries. She could feel her heart racing every time he touched her, and she needed to pull away before he noticed. She slowly turned around in his arms and placed her paws on his chest, briefly standing on tiptoe to press her lips to his. She thought her heart was going to fly out of her chest.

"Not bad, Slick," she responded, a little breathlessly. "You?"

"Amazing, now," the fox said with a smirk. "Just had a little talk with Joseph."

Judy could see he was going to get right down to business. "Yeah. So, what do you think? Is he safe? Are  _we_?"

Nick thought for a moment before he spoke. "Well, I'm not sure if I believe his whole story, but...I don't think we have to worry. If he's telling in the truth, he seems to have his... _problem_  under control. We just have to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't get into any trouble."

"And after that?" Judy asked. "What do we do when the tests are finished and we get this all figured out?"

Nick hesitated, then sighed. "I still want to help him. Whether or not he's telling the truth, as long as he's not a threat, I want to help him."

Judy sighed, lowering her paws from Nick's chest. "Me too," she said. "I feel like he's just been through too much. If everything he says is true...then he's got  _nothing_ , Nick. No home, no family, no friends. He's got...no reason to try."

"So, what do you want to do?"

Judy thought for a moment. "If it turns out he's been lying or is insane, we'll make sure he gets the help he needs."

"And if he's not?" Nick asked. "If he's been telling the truth?"

"Then I want to help him start a new life. Here, in Zootopia." Judy grabbed Nick's tie and pulled his face down to hers. "After all, everyone deserves their happy ending."

Nick smiled and pressed his nose up against Judy's. "I've got mine right here," he said softly as he pulled her into a full-on kiss. Judy was legitimately frightened that she was going to die of love right there in Nick's arms.

She had no idea that he felt the exact same way.

* * *

An hour later, the entire apartment was permeated by the smell of cheese and tomato sauce. Since Judy had a little more money now, she'd decided to start making some homemade meals instead of just having TV dinners all the time. Her favorite thing to make was pizza. It was simple and delicious, and it had a nice homey feel to it.

After pulling the pizza from the oven and setting it on the counter to cool, Judy went in search of her boyfriend. She looked around the living room, but he wasn't there. She began to make her way to their bedroom, but heard the sound of running water from the bathroom at the beginning of the hallway. She went and knocked on the door.

"Nick?" she called out. "You in there?"

"Yeah, I'm in the shower, Carrots!" he called back. "Whatcha need?"

"Nothing, just wanted to tell you the pizza's done and is cooling off. It'll be ready in a few minutes."

"Thanks. I'll be out soon."

Judy walked the few steps to the spare room to tell Joseph that lunch was ready. Just as she was about to knock on the slightly open door, she heard something. Soft, sweet, melodic, coming from inside the room. She looked through the crack between the door and the frame and saw that Joseph was sitting on the bed, his back to the door, looking out the window. He was softly singing to himself.

Judy couldn't help herself. She had to hear him. He paused for a moment, like he'd just finished a song. Then, in a light, smooth voice like a summer wind, Joseph began to sing.

_I have often dreamed of a far-off place_

_Where a hero's welcome will be waiting for me_

_Where the crowds will cheer when they see my face_

_And a voice keeps saying this is where I'm meant to be_

_I'll be there someday, I can go the distance_

_I will find my way, if I can be strong_

_I know every mile will be worth my while_

_When I go the distance, I'll be right where I belong_

He paused to take a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. Although the fox was still singing quietly to himself, Judy could hear the raw emotion that filled every word.

_Down an unknown road to embrace my fate_

_Though that road may wander, it will lead me to you_

_And a thousand years would be worth the wait_

_It might take a lifetime, but somehow, I'll see it through_

_And I won't look back, I can go the distance_

_And I'll stay on track, no, I won't accept defeat_

_It's an uphill slope but I won't lose hope_

_'Til I go the distance and my journey is complete_

Joseph stood up. He was still singing softly, but he was putting his whole being into the song. It wasn't like when Judy sang when she was alone because no one was watching. Joseph sang like he didn't care what anyone would think if they saw him. It was like he was singing so the whole world could hear.

_Like a shooting star, I will go the distance_

_I will search the world, I will face its harms_

_I don't care how far, I can go the distance_

_'Til I find my hero's welcome waiting in your arms_

Joseph stopped singing. Apparently, that was the end of the song. He went over to the window and placed his paw on the frame, heaving a deep sigh and gazing out at the city that was his new home. Judy didn't want to intrude on his peace, but she had to say something about what she'd just heard. She softly knocked on the door.

Joseph whipped around, looking as though he expected an attack. When he saw that it was Judy, he went beet red (or as red as an already red fox could go). "Oh, h-hey Judy!" he stuttered. "H-how long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough," she said with a gentle smile. "I, um...I heard you singing. That was...beautiful. What song was that?"

Joseph was clearly mortified that Judy had been watching and listening to him, but he answered her anyway. "Oh, that? Um, it's called 'Go the Distance'. It's, uh, from a movie I used to watch as a kid." The fox shoved his paws into his pockets and began to shuffle his feet in embarrassment. "Sometimes, when I get really down, I just…like to sing to myself a little. It makes me feel a little better, y'know? Especially, uh, Disney songs like that one. It…helps me remember that I have to keep going." Joseph blinked tears from his eyes, unsure why was suddenly saying all this to a rabbit he'd known for three hours. "Keep trying. Keep hoping that, someday, somehow...I'll find where I belong."

What Judy did next, she did without thinking. She just knew she had to do it. She ran up to Joseph and wrapped her arms around his waist, enclosing him in a tight bunny hug. He tensed for a moment, but quickly relaxed and wrapped his arms around Judy in return. "You will, Joseph," she said to him. "I'm gonna make sure of it."

"Thanks," he whispered, his voice breaking. Judy held him for a few more seconds before letting him go. "Come on," she said. "Lunch is ready. I made us a homemade pizza."

As she turned to leave the room, Joseph grabbed her shoulder. "Wait," he said.

She turned around. "Yeah?"

Joseph rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Nick, um, told me...what you did for him. How you changed him."

Judy smiled. "I think Nick might exaggerate my role in that a little."

"Either way," Joseph continued, "thank you."

Judy was confused. "For what?" she asked. "You weren't even there. Why are you thanking me?"

"Because you brought some brightness into someone else's life without thinking about yourself. You were are a star to him...like you're being to me." A glowing smile spread across Joseph's face. "I don't know how things are here, but where I come from...brightness like that is hard to come by. So, thank you."

Judy smiled once again. This fox was really beginning to grow on her. "You're welcome," she said. "Now come on. Let's eat." She turned and left the room, Joseph following her.

As Joseph left his new bedroom, he thought about the look he'd just seen in Judy's eyes. The look he'd seen in Nick's eyes when he helped Joseph off the street. They cared. They genuinely cared about him.

Joseph couldn't stop the little spark of hope that ignited inside him. He wasn't sure that he wanted it there. He'd learned too many times in his life that hope is dangerous. In the past, he'd let his hope grow, and time and time again it had been crushed. He didn't want to be hurt that way again. But he couldn't help it. In the deepest parts of his heart, Joseph wanted to hope, wanted to believe, that maybe, just maybe...

...he'd finally found where he belonged.


	5. Confession

The rest of the day was more or less uneventful. Joseph and his two new friends had some of Judy's homemade pizza—which Joseph insisted was the best he had ever had-and talked some more about Joseph's world. He said that there wasn't really a whole lot more to tell about the basics; the similarities between his world and that of Zootopia were quite striking. He did, however, share a very interesting detail with them, which they actually found even harder to believe than the rest of his story—the presence of superheroes in his world.

"The first one was a guy called Captain America," Joseph said, chewing happily on his pizza. "He's a super-soldier from the 1940s that my country used to fight this terrorist group called HYDRA. Got frozen in ice for 70 years after he crashed in the arctic."

"Really?" Nick said, nodding his head skeptically. "And are there…other superheroes in your world?"

"Oh, yeah," Joseph assured him. "They put a team together back in 2012 during an alien invasion in New York."

"An alien invasion?" Judy asked, the disbelief obvious in her voice. "Seriously?"

"Yeah," Joseph said, his eyes suddenly sad. "That was…a pretty bad day. Second worst day in the history of the New York—don't even get me started on the other one. I was only two when  _that_ happened, but it still hurts to think about. But anyway, this team—the Avengers, they call themselves—it's Captain America, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Hawkeye, and Black Widow."

"Thor?" Nick asked. "Like the god from those old Norse stories?"

"One and the same," Joseph explained, taking a sip of grape soda. "Turns out Asgardians are actually super-advanced aliens who visited the Vikings centuries ago and got worshipped as gods. It was actually Loki, the 'god' of mischief, who led the attack on New York. Thor's got the hammer and lightning and everything." The fox suddenly had the giddy excitement of a child in his eyes, a welcome change from the dour gaze he'd had earlier. "I mean, aside from the massive amounts of property damage they cause, it's pretty cool to watch."

Nick and Judy gave each other a skeptical glance when Joseph wasn't looking. "I'm sure it is," Judy said with a smirk.

After lunch, Nick and Judy took Joseph out on a short tour of Zootopia. They decided that the best way for him to get a feel of the city would be to take the train all the way around through all the districts, just as Judy had when she first arrived. It was incredible-all of the different kinds of architecture, the stark contrast of the districts that functioned side-by-side in unity, the overwhelming diversity of so many animals living in harmony. Joseph thought it was one of the most amazing things he'd ever seen.

They also went shopping to get Joseph some new clothes. Joseph said that he was perfectly fine with his police sweat suit, but Judy insisted that they had to get him some proper (and more stylish) attire. So, an hour later, the three walked out of Mousy's with several bags full of clothes: a few plain t-shirts, some blue jeans, and a nice dark-blue hoodie. Joseph had said that he always liked to dress simply, and he also didn't want to clean out their wallets-they'd done far too much for him already.

A light rain had begun to fall by the time they arrived back at Nick and Judy's third-floor apartment around four o'clock. Joseph quickly changed into his new outfit and came out into the living area to watch TV with his new friends. After watching the news for a couple of hours to get a sense of current events in the mammal world, Joseph went back to his new room to do some reading. Nick had purchased some history books on Zootopia at the Barnes & Noble bookstore in the mall so that Joseph could learn some more about the city. Although Nick liked Joseph, he was relieved to finally be alone with his girlfriend.

Once Joseph had retired to his room, Nick immediately pulled Judy to his side on the couch and wrapped his tail around her. She snuggled close to his chest, listening to his heartbeat. She didn't seem to notice that it was going faster than Flash in his sports car.

For several moments they were silent, simply enjoying each other's presence. Then Nick spoke. "Some day, huh Carrots?"

"I'll say," Judy responded. "One of the weirdest ones I've had in a while."

"Well, at least this time we weren't chased into a museum by a psychopathic sheep with a dart-gun," Nick said sarcastically.

"Yeah. Hard to have a weirder day than that."

They were silent again as Judy set her eyes on the flat screen TV and watched  _Swinefeld_. Nick didn't really care for the show, but Judy thought it was hilarious. He looked down at her, watching her adorable bunny nose crinkle up when she laughed. How he loved that laugh. Every time he heard it, it made him feel as if everything in the world was alright.

Nick felt his chest tighten and he began to choke up. He always felt this way when he really thought about Judy. About how much he cared for her.

Nick had wanted to make tonight really special for her when he told her how he felt. He'd planned on taking her to the park on the edge of the city next to Lake Pax, close to the spot where they'd shared their first kiss. He'd wanted to have a simple, romantic picnic with her at sunset, gaze into her eyes and tell her how much he loved her.

When he'd realized that he and Judy were going to have to spend the night keeping an eye on Joseph, Nick had figured that he'd just have to scrap the plan and tell her everything on another night, when they could be completely alone. But now, looking down at this little bunny who had changed his life in so many ways, Nick knew he couldn't wait. He didn't care that Joseph was just in the other room. He didn't care that they were sitting on the couch with a cheesy sitcom playing on the TV. If he went even another hour without telling Judy how much he loved her, he was sure he would die. If he was going to do it, he was going to do it now.

Nick grabbed the remote off the coffee table and turned off the TV.

"Hey!" Judy said, indignant. "I was watching that!"

"Calm down, Carrots," Nick said gently. "There's...there's something that I really need to talk to you about."

Judy heard the emotion in Nick's voice and immediately softened. "Sure," she said, turning towards him. "What is it?"

Nick took a deep breath and struggled for a moment to find the right words. He'd had a whole speech prepared, but now he couldn't remember a word of it. He decided to just speak what was on his heart. He had to tell her...everything.

As he thought about what to say, his breathing began to get heavier and he started blinking a lot, as if trying to hold back tears. Judy could see that he was in some sort of distress. "Hey," she said, laying her paw on his forearm, "it's okay. You know you can tell me anything."

"I know," he said in a hoarse whisper. Nick blinked again and began to speak. "Judy, I... I need to tell you...how I feel. I've been wanting to tell you for a long time, but...I didn't know how. But I can't hold it back anymore. I... I need you to know."

"Okay," she said. Her heart was racing at the thought of what Nick might say.

"Judy, I...the first time I saw you in that ice cream shop, looking so...small and persistent, you amazed me. You left a deep impression on me. I mean, how could you be so...naive, standing up so bravely like that for a... a fox like me?"

Nick looked down at his lap, and Judy saw that tears were glistening in the corners of his eyes. "The next time I saw you, I had to face your judgements, your accusations. But obviously, me being who I was back then, I wasn't about to apologize to you. Not one bit. I was...so surprised when I ran into you again. I was even becoming...interested. And that was something I hadn't felt in a really long time.

"Time and time again you surprised me. Not giving up on Mr. Otterton even when I said such hurtful things to you...standing up to Mr. Big even when you knew he might kill you...and then...in the rainforest...you saved my life. I'd never seen anyone act so bravely and selflessly.

"And then, Bogo tried to take your badge. And when I saw you, so small and hunched over and being treated so unfairly...for the first time in my life, I got angry for someone else. You...you didn't deserve to be treated like that."

Tears were now beginning to freely fall from Nick's eyes, and Judy was beginning to choke up as well. He'd never spoken like this before. So raw, so open, overflowing with emotion. The next words forced tears of joy from Judy's eyes.

"I wanted to protect you," Nick said, taking Judy's paws in his own and gently rubbing his thumbs across them. The simple but intimate gesture sent shivers up Judy's arms. "I didn't even know I felt like that until I was already moving. And, when we were up in the gondola, after I told you about my past, and you put your paw on my arm..." Nick glanced down briefly at their entwined paws, sitting on his lap. "Your touch was...warmth, and light, and...and hope to me."

Nick raised his tear-filled eyes to Judy's and saw that they were glistening, too. He hated seeing her cry, even if they were happy tears. He took a deep breath and spoke again. "Maybe you didn't know when you put that application in my hand, when you...said you wanted me to be your partner...how it made me feel. For the first time in my life, someone trusted me. Believed in me. And that's why what happened next hurt so much."

Judy flinched. She hated to remember the things she'd said at that press conference. In some ways, she still felt guilty over it. But she thought they'd long since moved past that.

"When you went up in front of those cameras and said all those unfounded things, I knew that you were just nervous and spoke without thinking, 'cause when you came back down, you said you thought I was different. And I'm so,  _so_  very sorry for the things I said. I thought I was hurt because you'd betrayed me, but that wasn't it. That wasn't it at all. It hurt because...I was scared." Nick let out a quiet sob. "I was scared that you were right," he said weakly. "I was scared that I could hurt you."

"Nick, no!" Judy interrupted. She could no longer stand the pain in his voice. "I know you would never hurt me."

"But I did, Judy," he said, his voice breaking. "I hurt you. I walked away from you. And I'm so, so sorry for that." Nick rubbed his forearm over his eyes and continued. "The day that we stopped Bellwether, you said that that was a weird day, and it was. But, for me...that was the best day of my life."

"Why?" Judy asked.

"Because that was the first time I held you in my arms," Nick told her. "When you came to me under that bridge and I held you against me...you couldn't see it, Judy, but I've never been as happy as I was in that moment."

Nick couldn't help himself. He took Judy's face in his paws and stared directly into her big purple eyes. "Judy," he said softly, "you'll never know how happy I am that I met you that day. You'll never, ever know how much joy and sunshine you brought into my life. You didn't just give me a better life, Judy. You gave me a reason to live."

"Oh, Nick," was all she could say.

"And there's something I else I need to tell you. Something I've been wanting to tell you for a really long time, but I could never figure out when was the right time. But...I can't keep it in anymore. I need to you to know…"

"What?" Judy asked, her voice scarcely more than a whisper. She'd never been so scared or excited in her entire life. "What do you need to tell me?"

Nick leaned in closer, touching his nose to Judy's. He looked into her eyes, and he was sure that he was staring into heaven. Nick had never been so happy, so content, as he was right now. He wanted this moment to last forever.

Nick drew in a deep, shuddering breath, and he whispered the words he knew he'd been waiting his entire life to say.

"I love you, Judy Hopps."

Judy drew in a tiny gasp, and then stopped breathing all together. Her breath stopped. Her heart stopped. Everything in the entire universe stopped as she looked into Nicholas Wilde's eyes, and saw shining in them the love he'd just proclaimed.

Judy was silent for only a second, but to the both of them, it seemed like an eternity. She couldn't move. She couldn't speak. She could only sit there in awe as she realized the unbelievable truth.

Nick Wilde loved her.

Just like she loved him.

Suddenly, quick as lightning, Judy threw her arms around Nick's neck and pressed her lips against his with all the force of two planets colliding. They had shared many kisses, but this one was different. It was visceral, primal, instinctual. It was the kiss of two people who both knew that they had been destined to be together since the beginning of time.

Judy pulled back. "I love you, too, Nick," she said breathlessly. She locked her arms around his neck, never wanting to let go. "Oh, God, I love you so, so much!" She shouted the last part, burying her nose in the crook of Nick's shoulder. She could no longer keep in the waterfall of emotion that was flooding her soul.

"You do?" said Nick, his green eyes widening in amazement. " _You do_?!" Nick began to cry freely now. Never, not in a million years, did he ever imagine that he would hear someone say those words to him, least of all this perfect little bunny. He pulled her back, looking into her eyes, and saw in them love and devotion beyond all telling.

They sat there for what seemed like forever, holding each other and crying tears of joy, telling each other over and over again, "I love you...I love you so much...". After they were both out of tears, they looked at each other and kissed one last time. Then, Judy curled up in a ball in Nick's lap and they just sat there, loving each other.

After several minutes of silence, Nick spoke, his voice still shaky. "Hey, Judy?" he said.

"Yes,  _my love_?" she responded, relishing the words she could finally say.

"I was wrong."

Judy sat up, suddenly worried. "About what?"

He ran his paw over her head, pushing back her floppy ears. " _This_  is the happiest day of my life."

A smile like the sun spread across Judy's face. She leaned her head into Nick's chest, listening to the heart that she now knew beat only for her.

"Me too, Nick. Me too."

* * *

"That's 200 volts. Finally seeing some cellular activity."

"About damn time. I'm surprised the kid even survived the deprivation tank. Kick it up to 250."

"Are you sure, sir? There's only so much the body can—"

"Anderson, we are  _this_  close to finally having a successful test subject after literally thousands of failures. We are not about to pull back from this on the off chance that it'll kill him. If he dies, we'll just grab some other sad sack of crap about to jump off a bridge, like we've been doing for years. Now ramp it up."

"Yes, sir."

A wave of agony tore its way through his body as the electricity coursed through him. Within seconds, it felt like every cell in his body was on fire. He felt his bones crack apart and his tendons stretch so far they should have snapped. He tasted blood in his mouth as a new set of razor teeth shredded his gums open, nearly biting off his tongue in the process. As his body burned, he saw his own face hovering above him in the glass of the electrocution chamber. His face, contorted with screams of agony, began to stretch and morph into the visage of a demon with scaly skin and razor teeth. Its yellow, its reptilian eyes stared into his soul as it spoke to him.

"And now, we are become Death," the Monster growled, an ungodly grin splitting its lipless mouth. "The Destroyer of Worlds."  
His screams could not drown out the sound of the Monster's demonic laughter. "Joseph," it gloated at him, "wake up."

_What?_  he thought incredulously, continuing to shriek like a banshee.  _Wake up, what does that—_

"Wake up!" the Monster roared again, except this time its mouth failed to move with the words. "WAKE UP, JOSEPH!" The hideous creature reached through the glass of the pod and gripped his frail shoulders, shaking him like a child trying to get his change out of a piggy bank. "It's a dream, kid, you have to wake up!"

Joseph shot up out of the pod and into an unfamiliar room, a scream tearing itself from his throat. He felt the Monster's hands release their hold on him as he scrambled across some soft surface and fell to the hard floor. "Kid, it's okay, it's me!" the Monster called out to him. But it wasn't the Monster's voice—it was normal, comforting, and filled with panic.

Joseph, still screaming, backed himself up against the wall of the nearly pitch-black room as a tall, shadowy shape came towards him, grabbing his shoulders firmly. "Joseph, calm down, it's me! It's Nick, you're okay, you're dreaming!"

A fresh shriek of terror stopped dead in Joseph's throat as he recognized the fox's voice, the memories of the last twenty-four hours flooding back into his brain. "Oh, God," he muttered hoarsely, his flailing limbs finally coming to a standstill. "Oh, my God, Nick, I—"

"Shh, you're okay now, buddy," the fox said, suddenly wrapping his arms around Joseph in a hug and holding him tightly in an effort to calm him down. "It was just a dream, you're fine. You're safe."

"What the hell is going on in here?" came Judy's voice from the doorway. Joseph was momentarily blinded when she flipped the light switch and the room was flooded with light. He vaguely registered that she was hurriedly wrapping herself in a violet bathrobe before Nick released him from his hug, leaning back and looking into his eyes.

"You okay, Joseph?" he asked, his voice concerned.

"W-what happened?" the young fox asked shakily.

"I heard you screaming," Nick explained. "I came in to see what was wrong and saw you thrashing around in the bed. I tried to wake you up and you just bolted over here." He placed a warm paw on Joseph's cheek. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I'm—I'm sorry," he muttered, nervously rising to his feet. His t-shirt was soaked through with sweat, his eyes dripping with tears. From the smell that was emanating from his pajama bottoms, Joseph could tell that he had soiled himself. "I'm—so sorry," he repeated. "This isn't right. I n-never should have come here. I—I've got to go." The frightened mammal made a beeline for the door, but his path was blocked by Judy.

"What do you mean, you have to go?" she questioned. "Joseph, you just had a nightmare and—and wet the bed a little, that's no reason to just run off. It's not like you tried to kill us—"

"But I could have!" he yelled suddenly. Seeing the frightened looks on their faces, he lowered his voice. "Sorry. B-but I have night terrors, of what happened to me, and—and I'm scared that if I get too stressed I'll change and—"

"We can take care of ourselves, Joseph," Nick assured him.

" _No, you can't_ ," the kit retorted. "Not against this, not against…me. If I change,  _it will slaughter you_." He stared down at his feet, shaking like a leaf. "I can't let that happen. Not to you guys. I'm sorry I dragged you into this, but I have to go." He made for the door again, but was physically held back by Nick.

"You're not going anywhere, Joseph," the vulpine insisted. "We said we were going to take care of you, and we meant it. We don't give up on anyone."

"Especially our friends," the bunny added.

Joseph simply stood there, still trembling slightly, his eyes flitting from Nick to Judy and back again. Suddenly, with a feeble cry, he fell forward into Nick's arms.

" _Help me,_ " he begged him. "Please, oh God, please help me…don't leave me, Nick, I'm sorry…"

"It's okay, Joseph," the fox said softly, patting Joseph gently on the back. "We're not gonna leave you. We're going to take care of you." He cast a worried glance over at Judy, who immediately came over and wrapped her arms around the two reynards, doing her best to ignore the acrid smell coming off of Joseph's person.

"We're here for you, Joseph," she said. "Always."


	6. Her

"Okay, now unroll your fist," said the nurse.

Joseph slowly released his clenched fist and watched his blood flow through the thin tube in his arm to the small vial at the other end. The nurse, a snow-leopard named Casey, took four full vials. She said that, given the number of tests that needed to be done, more blood had to be taken than usual.

Judy and Nick were sitting in chairs on the other side of the hospital blood lab, both wearing their police uniforms once again. Joseph would have protested and said that there was no need for them to join him, but he knew that Bogo had probably ordered them to guard him 24/7. He didn't exactly blame any of them, given all they'd heard.

It had been three days since Joseph arrived in Zootopia. Thankfully, there had not been a repeat of Monday night's incident (though they did have to buy Joseph some new bedsheets, as he'd shredded the ones he had been using), and he had passed the days in relative peace, most of them in the back of Nick and Judy's cruiser, reading about Zootopia and mammalian evolution. Both Nick and Judy still had jobs to do, and they needed to watch Joseph constantly by order of Bogo. Therefore, their only option was to take him with them to work. Neither of them thought that he would be any trouble-he was actually rather timid-but they had to guard him nonetheless.

They had arrived at the Zootopia Regional Medical Center just before six o'clock in the morning, Joseph having fasted for the previous twelve hours so that his blood tests could be as clean as possible. The only other tests that Bogo had ordered were a urine test and a CAT scan, meant to ensure that Joseph was neither under the influence of any illegal substance or suffering from some sort of brain trauma. On the whole, the tests only took a couple of hours-it was the psychological tests, however, that were the real killer.

Having completed the tests at the hospital, the trio made their way to Tundratown Behavioral Health Systems, a small psychiatric counseling center in the city's arctic district. Once there, Joseph had to sit in a bleak office with a psychologist for almost four hours as the shrink pounded him with question after question, trying to gauge his sanity. The doctor had Joseph fully repeat everything he'd told Bogo, and then some. He wanted Joseph to go into great detail about his personal life, trying to find any inconsistencies that might prove his story false. However, aside from the memory gaps in Area 51 he had mentioned, he found none. Joseph's story, however fantastical, was airtight.

After the interview, the psychologist, a timber wolf named Dr. Emanuel Hoskins, released Joseph back into Nick and Judy's custody and finished writing up his report. He then paged his assistant and told her to call Chief Bogo and have him come in, wanting to brief him on the situation. Given the nature of the case, Bogo had convinced Hoskins to release Joseph's psych eval to him, despite the issue of patient-doctor confidentiality. The chief had assured him that he would be the only one to see it.

When Bogo arrived, he sat down grumpily in the chair in front of Hoskins' desk. As usual, he neither smiled nor showed any kind of emotion.

"Morning, Bogo," Hoskins said politely in his thin English accent. "How are you today?"

"Cut to the chase, doc," the buffalo rumbled. "I'm not one of your patients, and I have a lot other work to do."

Hoskins had collaborated with Bogo on several occasions and was by now used to such brevity. "Very well," he said. "I just got done interviewing that fox you called about, Joseph Solomon."

"And?" Bogo asked impatiently. "Is he crazy, lying, or what?"

Hoskins looked down at his notes, uncertain. "He isn't insane, I can tell you that much. Everything he said, he defended with logic and consistency. A madman can't do that. They just rave on, trying to convince you that they're telling the truth, and it's very rare that any story coming from someone of unsound mind should be so airtight."

"So, what's your conclusion, doc?"

"Well, in my professional opinion, there are two distinct possibilities. One, this fox is an extremely skilled master-manipulator and is trying to pull off some kind of hustle. For what reason, I have no idea."

"And the second possibility?" Bogo intoned, sure he already knew the answer.

Hoskins breathed deeply. "He's telling the truth."

Bogo shook his head. "Doc, do you really believe that anything he says is even remotely possible?"

"I don't know," said the doctor. "What he said about the base and the experiments, maybe. But coming from a different world, a world where all animals are still slaves to their instincts and one species reigns supreme? It's like something straight out of myth."

"I don't disagree. But is there any chance, any chance at all, that it might be possible?"

Hoskins passed his paw over his face in a tired expression. "There are theories, very controversial theories, mind you, in cosmology and physics that posit that there are, in fact, an infinite number of universes in existence with infinite variation among them. If such a theory were to be proven true, it could prove Mr. Solomon's claims of coming from an alternate universe. However, I am a psychologist, not a cosmologist, so that is a moot point for the purposes of this conversation. I must say, though, that one of the prerequisites for being a good psychologist is that you need to be good at telling whether or not someone is lying. Not to toot my own horn, but I am very good at that. And since I know for a fact that that fox is not insane, I can tell you with 99% certainty that he was telling the truth. How it could be possible, I don't know. And yet, I am forced to consider it."

Bogo heaved a heavy sigh. "Well, thanks for the info, Hoskins," Bogo said, rising from the chair. "I'll let you know if I need anything else."

"Sure thing, Chief," Hoskins said, handing the buffalo a folder. "Here's a copy of the report and my notes, in case you want to look over them."

"Thanks." Bogo turned toward the door, and then hesitated. "One more thing," he said, turning to face the wolf. "Do you think that there is any chance that Solomon might be...dangerous? To himself or others?"

Hoskins looked up at Bogo. "As he is, I'd say no, at least not to others. While he's not insane, he has one of the worst cases of clinical depression and anxiety that I've ever seen, not to mention such a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder that I'm amazed he's even lucid. He mentioned having frequent night terrors and…well, he seems to have ruined Officer Hopps' spare bed. With that in mind, I'd highly suggest that whoever is taking care of him keep a very close eye on him in case he resorts to self-harm as a coping mechanism. I tell you, if he were my actual patient, I'd have him on antidepressants faster than you could say—"

"Is he dangerous, Hoskins?" Bogo interrupted impatiently.

"At the moment, no. But, if he's telling the truth, and he really does turn into some sort of... monster... then I'd say he very well could be."

"Thank you, Doctor," Bogo said, and left the office without another word.

Once Bogo had returned to his office at the police station, he stared tiredly at the mountain of files on his desk. On top of the confusion of Solomon's case, they now had two rather grisly mammalicides to deal with, one a sheep, the other a pig, both having had their throats slit from ear to ear. The chief of police opened up on of the files, at the front of which were the crime scene photos. Long years on the ZPD had hardened Bogo to the point where he no longer flinched at the gore, but it still hurt him in his heart of hearts to see any mammal treated so cruelly.

Bogo slammed the case file shut. He didn't want to think about this right now. He was too tired. He decided to assign the case to Detectives Gordon and Bullock, a bull and jackal, respectively. Flipping open another folder, Bogo began to take a look at Hoskin's report on Joseph, hoping that the psychiatrist's musings could shed some light on the workings of the fox's mind. As Bogo began to read, he thought to himself that he had a boring afternoon ahead of him.

He was very, very wrong.

* * *

 

The ride back from the psychiatric center for Nick, Judy, and Joseph was more than a little awkward. No one seemed to want to mention the only thing there was to talk about: Joseph's interview with Hoskins. Due to patient-doctor confidentiality, neither Nick nor Judy had been allowed in the room with Joseph during the interview. They had merely stood guard outside the door.

Nick, his paws loose on the steering wheel, glanced over at Judy in the passenger seat. Her left arm was lying limp on the center console, and her purple eyes had a vague look about them. She seemed to be deep in thought.

Nick couldn't help but smile every time he looked at her. She was just too beautiful, too perfect. Every moment in her presence was like an eternity of bliss to him.

Ever since the happy couple had expressed their love to each other-both verbally and physically-they'd spent almost every waking moment in each other's presence. Which wasn't exactly hard, given that they still had to guard Joseph 24/7. They tried to keep all the mushy love stuff to a minimum in public, but when they were alone, they sat together, Nick's tail wrapped protectively around Judy, and they would kiss and talk about how much they meant to each other and just look at each other. When it came time for bed, Nick would take his one true love in his arms, carry her to their bed, and they would give themselves to each other in a union of loving bliss, as wonderful each successive night as it had been on the first. Basically, they did everything Nick had always found utterly revolting about couples. He had never been one to express his feelings openly (after all, his motto from childhood had been "Never let them see that they get to you"), but with Judy he just couldn't help it. Her presence in his life made him do a complete 180.

Nick once again glanced at Judy, noticing that her paw was lying upright on the center console. The urge suddenly struck him to reach his paw out to hers and entwine them. He thought it might be awkward with Joseph in the backseat, but he decided he didn't care. Nick reached out and grasped Judy's left paw with his right, holding it in a gentle but firm grip. Judy seemed slightly startled by the sudden touch, but then looked up at Nick and smiled a glowing smile, her eyes overflowing with love.

Nick looked into the rear-view mirror to see if Joseph had noticed the motion. Apparently, he had, as he had a slight grin spreading across his face. The look in his eyes, however, didn't match his expression. Though he had the smallest of smiles, the look in Joseph's eyes suggested that someone had just poked him with a sewing needle.

Nick decided that the awkward silence had gone on long enough. However, just as he opened his mouth to ask Joseph how the interview had gone, Judy's phone buzzed in her pocket. She reluctantly let go of Nick's paw to retrieve the device and saw that she'd received a text. Once she'd opened it and read it, she dramatically exclaimed, "Oh, nuts!"

"What is it?" Nick inquired.

"It's Jamie," Judy said. "We were supposed to meet her for lunch ten minutes ago! With the appointments and everything, I completely forgot."

"Aw, crap," Nick groaned. He glanced in the mirror again, seeing that Joseph's face had suddenly become downcast. He was clearly feeling guilty about interrupting another date.

Nick sighed. "It's no big deal," he said. "We're only ten minutes late. Um..." Nick thought for a moment. "Okay, how about I take Joseph home and you go to lunch with Jamie. Tell her I'm sorry I couldn't make it."

"Nick, no!" Judy exclaimed. "It's only the second time you two have met, and she's been on my back for days about getting to know my boyfriend."

Again, Nick sighed and looked in the rear-view mirror. "Hey, Joseph," he said. The fox's eyes glanced up to the front, worried. "How do you feel about going to lunch with us and meeting Judy's sister?"

Joseph seemed rather surprised. "Sure," he said. "I'm not gonna be any trouble, am I?"

"No, not at all," Judy assured him. "I'm sure she'd love to meet you."

"If you say so," he muttered doubtfully.

Jamie was the only other member of the Hopps family living in Zootopia. She had just graduated high school in Bunny Burrow and had moved to Zootopia for college. At the age of eighteen, she was six years younger than Judy and had always been inspired by her big sister's tenacity and determination to become a police officer. When Judy had entered the academy, she had inspired Jamie to pursue a career in law enforcement as well, though on a different and slightly darker path. Whereas Judy was focused on helping people on a day-to-day basis, Jamie was more concerned with catching the bad guys. It was this feeling, combined with a love of science and mystery, that had led her to the conclusion that she wanted to be a crime scene technician.

Two months after graduating high school, Jamie had moved to the city to attend the University of Zootopia, one of the most prestigious four-year colleges in the nation. Her parents' partnership with Gideon Grey back in the Burrows had garnered the family some extra money to pay for part of her tuition, and she had also received a number of scholarships and grants. However, the small job she had at a diner in Tundratown didn't totally pay the bills, so Judy helped her out whenever she needed it. Jamie had actually ended up moving into the Grand Pangolin Arms, the same low-cost apartment complex that Judy had lived in when she first arrived in the city. She'd been there for almost two months now.

Nick had only met her once, the day she'd first arrived. He'd driven Judy to the train station so that they could pick Jamie up and take her to their apartment, where she'd be staying for the night. Jamie was the only person Judy had told about her relationship with Nick (after making her swear on her life that she wouldn't tell their parents), but she still seemed a bit surprised, and even a little apprehensive, the first time she shook the fox's paw. However, after having dinner together and spending some time getting to know each other, Jamie had warmed up to him considerably, and had even suggested that the three of them should meet each other for lunch when she had the chance. However, once school started, she'd been so swamped by homework that she had to wait almost two months for a free day. Jamie had called Judy last week and the three had decided to eat at a little diner in uptown Savannah Central called Four Star Family Restaurant.

Nick pulled up to the diner and parked on the curb, since there was no parking lot. As he unbuckled himself from the driver's seat, Joseph spoke up from the back.

"Um, Judy?" he said.

"Yeah?" she said, turning in her seat to face him.

"Uh, I'm guessing your sister's gonna ask how I know you guys, and... how much exactly do you want me to say?"

Judy thought for a moment. She hadn't considered this. "Just tell her that you're new in town and that Nick and I are helping you get your start here in Zootopia."

"Okay," Joseph said, getting out of the car. "Sorry for getting in the way again."

Once out of the car, Judy walked up to Joseph and laid her paw on his arm. "Joseph," she said gently, "you don't need to apologize. It's fine. We're just trying to help."

"Yeah," he said. "S-". He caught himself. "Thanks."

Nick led them into the diner. It was small but quite busy. Checker pattern tiles lined the walls above the red booths and tables. Animals of all species talked and ate together. As soon as he walked in, Joseph noticed a very prevalent smell in the diner. Nick had told him on his first day in the city that, since predators and prey now lived more or less harmoniously, all the animals in the city ate only fruits, vegetables, nuts, fish, and insect protein. It seemed that this diner's main dish was fish. Joseph was glad that he liked fish, otherwise the permeating smell might have made him nauseous.

Judy scanned the diner, looking for her sister. She found her in the far back corner booth, sipping on a milkshake and tapping on her phone. "Found her," she said, and motioned for the two foxes to follow her.

As they neared the table, Joseph caught his first glimpse of Jamie Hopps. The first and only thing he thought when he saw her was: whoa.

With all the fear and confusion Joseph had felt when arriving in Zootopia, he hadn't really thought about the physical appearance of any of the animals he'd encountered. It was so strange just seeing them walking and talking, he'd never thought to consider what was or wasn't attractive in this animal world. Now, however, he was thinking very much about it.

Jamie was almost a carbon copy of her sister, the only differences being her fur and her eyes. Instead of being light gray and white like Judy's was, the fur covering most of Jamie's body was the color of rich caramel. Like her sister, Jamie's fur lightened to the color of cream around her eyes and muzzle, the lighter shade continuing down her front. Though they hung loosely behind her head, Joseph could see that the tips of Jamie's long ears were the color of milk chocolate. Joseph couldn't help but be reminded of a Reese's peanut butter cup.

The most startling feature about Judy's sister, however, was her eyes, which were currently trained on the phone in her caramel-cream paw. Whereas Judy's eyes were the color of amethyst, Jamie's were the exact same shade of blue as the edge of the sky on a cloudless day at high noon.

Jamie Hopps was, for all intents and purposes, absolutely and unequivocally beautiful. Her fur was sleek and shining, her eyes bright with hope, her little bunny nose twitching at random moments. She was dressed very simply in a red and black plaid shirt and loose-fitting blue jeans, a grey messenger bag resting on the booth to her right.

"Hey," Judy said, breaking Joseph from his reverie. "Sorry we're late."

The young bunny's ears went up at the sound of her sister's voice. "Hey, Jude!" she said, lifting her eyes to the incoming trio. She rose from her seat and wrapped Judy in a hug. "Don't worry about it. They've got free Wi-Fi here, so I've just been on Furbook the whole time." She released her sister and reached out to shake Nick's paw. "Hey, Nick. Nice to see you again."

"Nice to see you too, Jamie," Nick replied.

Glancing around Nick, Jamie suddenly spotted Joseph, who had tried to conceal himself behind Nick as much as he could. When she saw the strange fox, she immediately stiffened, her ears going straight in alertness. Although she didn't consider herself prejudiced against foxes, her natural instincts still kicked in whenever she saw one she didn't know-and, as her sister knew all too well, biases run deeper than we care to realize.

"Who's this?" Jamie said.

"Oh!" Judy said. She motioned for Joseph to show himself, and he did. "Sorry. Jamie, this is Joseph Solomon. He's a... good friend of ours."

Jamie cautiously stuck out her paw, and Joseph nervously grasped it, giving it one quick shake before he let go. "Pleasure to meet you, Miss Hopps," he said shakily, looking anywhere but at Jamie.

"Same," she said. "I just, um..." Jamie threw a side glance at her sister. "I thought it was just going to be the three of us." She spoke in a slightly hushed voice, hoping not to offend Joseph.

"Well, that was the plan," Nick interjected smoothly, "but Joseph's new to the city and he didn't have anywhere to stay, so we're helping him out until he gets settled here." He looked at Joseph to confirm, but the shy fox was staring at his feet nervously.

"Oh, wow," Jamie said. "That's really cool of you guys." She turned back to Joseph, slightly more at ease. "Well, Joseph, welcome to Zootopia. And don't worry, you'll get used to it pretty quick. I just moved here not too long ago myself, so I know it can be a little bit of a shock."

Joseph let out an airy chuckle and flicked his eyes to Jamie, then immediately back to his feet. "You're telling me," he said as the group settled into their seats. Judy sat next to her sister on one side of the booth, and the two foxes sat on the other side. Nick, of course, sat directly across from his girlfriend, leaving Joseph to make awkward eye contact with Jamie.

"So, Joseph," she said, "where are you from, originally?"

"Um," Joseph hesitated. Great. Not only was he nervous just being in Jamie's presence, but he also had no idea exactly how much he was supposed to tell her. He decided to just go with the truth as far as he could. "Um, I was born in Rockford, but I was raised in a little town called Spring Valley. It's a long, long way from here."

"Oh, neat. What made you want to come to Zootopia?"

Ah, boy, here we go, Joseph thought. "It's... a really, really long story. Let's just say it was... kind of my last option."

"What do you mean?" Jamie leaned forward, a look of concern growing in her blue eyes, similar to the one Joseph had seen in her sister's purple ones. Apparently, it ran in the family.

"Uh..." Joseph looked to Judy for guidance, but at this point, she seemed to be as nervous as he was. They were getting dangerously close to information they weren't allowed to share. "It…it's not something I really like to talk about. Or remember. Or... acknowledge that it ever happened." He could feel his pulse quickening and his stomach churning, just like they always did whenever he remembered the events of the last few years.

"Oh," Jamie said. "Okay. Well, I'm sure you'll have a much better time here." She smiled at him, and his pulse quickened further, this time for a very different reason.

The rest of the lunch passed smoothly. Joseph spoke very little, and only when asked a direct question. The other three talked about Nick's life, Judy's work, and Jamie's studies. Joseph only ate a small salad, knowing that either Nick or Judy were going to have to pay for him, and he didn't want them to spend any more on him than they had to.

When everyone was finished, the group stood up and began to say their goodbyes, promising to meet again at the next opportunity. After embracing Judy and giving Nick a quick, friendly hug, Jamie turned to Joseph.

"It was really nice to meet you Joseph. You seem like a pretty nice guy. And don't worry, you'll get used to the city before too long."

"Thanks, Jamie," Joseph mumbled, desperately trying to avoid eye contact. "It was, uh, really nice to meet you too." His eyes followed Nick and Judy as they finished paying the bill at the checkout counter.

Jamie could sense that the young fox was nervous about something, but she couldn't put her paw on what. "Hey," she said softly, taking a step closer to him. She'd always had a soft spot for those who seemed to be in pain. "You okay?"

"Yeah, sorry," he said, rubbing a nervous paw across the bridge of his snout. "I'm just..n-not really used to talking to beautiful girls."

Jamie's ears immediately stood up at that. "Beautiful?" she repeated, a hint of incredulity in her angelic voice.

Joseph's amber eyes widened when he realized what he'd said. "Did I say that out loud?" he said in shock.

"You kinda did," Jamie said, blushing slightly under her fur. She'd never been called beautiful by anyone outside her family, let alone by a fox.

"Sorry," Joseph said, stuffing his paws into the pockets of his hoodie. "I-I didn't mean to-be weird or anything. I just-I've been going through a lot of stuff lately, and I-" Joseph trailed off into a mumble, once again staring at his feet.

"Joseph, it's fine," Jamie said, waving her paw in the air dismissively. "It's... flattering, really." She looked at him, standing there shuffling his feet, looking like a child that had just been scolded. She felt bad for him. And, just like her sister, she felt that she wanted to help him.

Jamie opened up the messenger bag slung across her shoulder, and pulled a pen and piece of paper out, quickly jotting something down on it. "Here," she said, holding the paper out to Joseph. He slowly reached out and took it, as though it was something fragile. "This is my cell number. If you need to... talk, or vent, or anything, just call me. I'd...love to get to know you better."

Joseph stared down at the paper for a moment, as though he was looking at some precious gem. Then he finally raised his eyes to hers, a genuine smile spreading across his face for the first time. "Thanks, Jamie," he said. "I'll... see you around, I guess."

"Joseph!" Nick called out from the door. "You coming or what?"

"Be right there!" he called back. He once again held out his paw, this time with more confidence.

Jamie grasped his paw in hers, now giving it a reassuring squeeze. "See ya," she said.

Joseph quickly made his way to the door, which Judy was holding open for him and Nick. Once back in the car, both Nick and Judy noticed a change in his demeanor. He seemed more at ease... excited, even.

"Did Jamie want to talk to you about something?" Judy asked.

"Yeah," Joseph said. He held up the piece of paper. "She, uh, gave me her phone number."

"She did?" Judy responded. She was somewhat surprised. Jamie had never been the type to hand out her number to animals she just met.

"Yeah," Joseph said. "Said if I needed to talk or anything, I could call her."

"Well, that was nice of her," Nick said. Since he barely knew Jamie, he didn't have the same reservations about this as Judy did.

"Yeah," Joseph said absentmindedly, again staring at the paper. "Real nice..."

Nick looked over at Judy in the passenger seat with his old devious smile on his face. He raised his eyebrows and silently mouthed the word "Player" to her.

Judy scoffed and shoved Nick's shoulder, slightly irritated. But she knew she couldn't stay that way for more than a few seconds. Nick's green eyes melted her heart instantaneously.

As Nick pulled away from the curb, the transponder on the ceiling suddenly screeched. Clawhauser's frantic voice immediately issued forth from it.

"Attention all units! We have a 2319 in progress in the alley on 58th and Lupa! Multiple suspects, all armed and very dangerous! Whoever's closest, get there now!"

Nick threw Judy a panicked look. 58th and Lupa was only a few blocks away. They were almost certainly the closest officers. They knew what they had to do, because they both knew what a 2319 was: in layman's terms, it meant that one or more children was in direct danger of death.

"We have to go," Nick said, grabbing the speaker from the transponder.

Judy nodded in agreement. "I'll grab the shotgun from the back," she said, speedily hopping from the vehicle.

Nick flicked the switch on the speaker. "Clawhauser, it's Wilde and Hopps. We're three blocks away from the scene and are en route. Send backup immediately." He furiously jammed the speaker back into its holster before Clawhauser could respond. Judy slammed herself back into the passenger seat, cradling a slate black Remington 87 shotgun. Both the officers had been well trained with the weapon, but had never had to use it or anything besides a taser or tranq gun outside of the academy.

As soon as Judy had closed the door, Nick slammed on the gas, making a quick U-turn and speeding towards Lupa Street. As he reached up to flip on the lights and sirens, Nick remembered the fox in the back seat, stiff as a board.

"Joseph!" he shouted. The fox's eyes widened at the severity in his voice. "You stay in this car, okay?! You do not leave this car!" Joseph rapidly nodded, too frightened to speak.

Nick pushed the pedal to the floor, truly fearing what was to come.


	7. Monster

The cruiser screeched to a stop at the mouth of the alley, sirens blaring. In the shadows of the alley, Nick could make out two animals, both seemingly prey dressed in gray, standing close to the left-hand building. They had their backs to the car and were looking at something on the ground in front of them. At the arrival of the cruiser, the mammal on the right, a large, muscular capybara, turned to the other, a marmot, and yelled something at him that sounded like "Finish it!". He immediately turned tail and ran out the opposite end of the alley.

While all this was happening, Nick had jumped out of the car, pointed the shotgun at the marmot's back, and yelled "FREEZE!" in the most powerful voice he could. As the capybara ran off, Nick saw what they had been gathered around: two young children, both motionless in fear. They were both predators, one a leopard boy, no older than eight, pressed up against the dirty brick wall, and the other an arctic fox girl, maybe a year two older, who was standing in front of the boy in what almost appeared to be a defensive position. The look of utter terror on both their faces was one of the most horrible things Nick had ever seen.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. The marmot was moving towards the children, and Nick saw that he was brandishing a large, razor-sharp hunting knife. "HEY!" Nick shouted. The mammal did not stop, but continued to pace slowly and menacingly towards the children. Nick could see the rise and fall of heavy breaths in the marmot's shoulders. "Drop the knife and get down on the ground NOW, or I WILL SHOOT YOU! DO IT NOW!" The marmot did not react at all to Nick's warnings. Making a split-second decision for the safety of the kids, Nick raised the shotgun to his shoulder, aimed at the marmot's back, and pulled the trigger.

_Click._

Nothing happened. Nick pulled the trigger again. Same effect. Panicked, Nick looked at the gun, and saw that he had left the safety on. As he struggled to release it, Nick saw the marmot's arm rise into the air, preparing to bring the knife down on the throat of the young fox girl, who had her paw stretched out in front of her as though she could stop the mammal's attack, tears streaming down her face. Neither she nor the leopard boy seemed able to move.

Nick knew before he raised the stock to his shoulder that the blade would find its target before the shot did. He could only hope that Judy had a clear shot.

Never, not in a million years, would Nick have expected what happened next. From behind him, he heard the single most bone-chilling sound he'd ever experienced: the screeching of metal and glass being instantaneously torn apart, coupled with a blood-curdling, eardrum-piercing roar that Nick thought could only have come from the bowels of Hell itself.

A dark shape, more powerful than the night, flashed past Nick, leaving a trail of twisted steel and shattered glass. The thing propelled itself through the air, growling like some sort of monster, and tackled the marmot with the knife, throwing the both of them straight past the two children before the knife could land. The two crashed against the bottom of a fire escape with a clang, falling almost six feet behind the cub and the kit, the dark shape on top. It stood on its hind legs, arms at its side, and stared down at the marmot with malicious intent, its front towards Nick and Judy.

Nick finally got a good look at the newcomer. In one instant, he took it all in. It almost looked like a fox, but the orange fur was incredibly sparse and revealed scaly, sickly green flesh underneath. It had a huge, powerful tail, bristling here and there with orange hairs, and massive, razor-sharp claws protruding from its hands and feet. But the most shocking feature of the beast was what it was wearing.

The thing was wearing a dark blue hoodie, ripped to shreds, and a simple pair of blue jeans. The exact same thing Joseph had been wearing.

 _Oh, my God_ , Nick thought.

In the moment it took Nick to realize what the creature was, it attacked. The creature sunk its claws into the marmot's shoulders and brought its snarling head down like a sledgehammer, and Nick heard its powerful jaws crush the marmot's skull, not even giving the animal time to scream. Blood spurted onto the walls of the buildings surrounding the alley as the creature shook and gnawed at the marmot's face like a toy. After several seconds of intense ripping and tearing, the creature threw its head back-and the head of the marmot came with it. The mangled piece of gore flew over and behind the creature, landing just outside the mouth of the alley with a hard  _squelch._  The creature shook its head and roared in defiance, throwing into the air bits of flesh and a spatter of the marmot's blood. Its razor-sharp teeth glowed in the sunlight, dripping red.

Nick stood there, rooted to the spot, agape in horror. No amount of police training could ever have prepared him for this. This-this  _thing_  couldn't possibly be Joseph. And yet, throwing a swift glance over his shoulder, Nick saw that the driver's side back door of the cruiser had been ripped apart from the inside, and Joseph was nowhere in sight.

Nick's police training kicked in. The original threat, the marmot, had been eliminated. However, a new threat-the monster that had once been Joseph-had taken its place. Nick had only one priority now: protect the children at all cost.

Nick raised the shotgun, which he was now sure was in firing mode, and aimed carefully at the monster. It slowly turned from its kill and faced the two children, a soft growl seeping from its throat. Its facial structure was still that of a fox, but it was now scaly and evil-looking. Nick stared for a moment into the yellow, slit-pupiled eyes, and prepared to fire.

But the monster did not attack. When it saw the children, the growling grimace that had pulled its face taut slackened, leaving a look that Nick almost thought seemed... concerned.

Suddenly, the creature's snout twitched, as if catching a scent. It bent over onto all fours, its face close to the ground just behind the leopard boy, and began to snuffle away from them, following some sort of trail.

 _What the hell is it doing?_  Nick thought.

The creature suddenly jerked itself upright, and, with a menacing growl, propelled itself forward into a run that could rival Judy on her best day.

Nick pulled the trigger, knowing that he couldn't let that thing loose in the city. It had just ripped a marmot to pieces in seconds-there was no telling what else it would do.

The bullet missed the creature and shattered into the wall to its left. Startled, the creature stopped and turned around, the claws on its feet actually sparking on the pavement, its razor-tipped paws held defensively before it. It still walked on two feet, unlike the animals that Nick had seen turned savage by the Night Howler serum. When it saw Nick, it stood still for a moment, watching him. Then, it jerked its head, in what Nick could swear was a nod.

Then, with one final roar, the thing that had once been Joseph Solomon turned and ran in pursuit of its prey.

* * *

The entire incident, from the moment the transponder had beeped at the diner to the moment when the creature ran off, had only taken about five minutes. Judy was unable to take it all in at once. She stood, still as a statue, still aiming her sidearm at enemies that were no longer there.

The savagery of the animals affected by the Night Howlers was nothing compared to what Judy had just witnessed. That thing was not an animal-it was a monster. When she'd heard the roar and the screech of tearing metal, she'd quickly turned to see what was going on, keeping her pistol aimed. However, the only thing she had seen was a dark blur that leapt past Nick and tackled the marmot. Then, she could only watch in horror as it tore the animal to shreds.

Coming back to reality, Judy realized that Nick had not moved either. The two of them were immobile, still aiming their weapons. Rapidly checking the alley and concluding that it was free of any new threats, Judy put her gun back in its holster and jogged up to the two children.

"Hey," she said softly, kneeling down so as to be on eye level with the kids. The fox girl had apparently fallen over after being startled by Joseph's horrific entrance. "My name's Judy. I'm an officer with the ZPD. Are either of you hurt?"

Both of the children shook their heads.

"Okay, good. You're safe now. No one's gonna hurt you." She held out her paw in a gesture of aid. The two children first looked at the paw, then at each other. Then, the arctic fox girl grasped Judy's paw and allowed her to help her to her feet. The leopard cub followed suit with her other paw.

"What are your names, guys?" Judy asked.

The leopard boy spoke first. "M-my name's D-Daryl. And this is S-Snow," he said, gesturing to the fox girl.

"Hey, Daryl. Hey, Snow." Judy stood, making herself eye-level with the children again. "Do your parents know you're here?"

"No," they said in unison. Daryl said, "They think we're at the park downtown. We were walking back home when..." The leopard started to sniffle, about to cry from the trauma he'd just endured.

"Okay. It's okay. My partner Nick and I are gonna take you two back to the station and call your parents." She laid her paws on their shoulders, trying to lead them away from the carnage behind them. The stench of blood and death was wafting over from the marmot's body, and Judy wanted to get the kids out of there ASAP. Not to mention the fact that she felt like she was going to be sick. She saw Nick cautiously walking over and said, "You're okay now. You're safe."

Snow suddenly spoke for the first time. Her voice was soft and light as a tinkling bell. "Wh-what was that thing?"

Judy glanced down at the little girl, seeing the fear in her eyes. She decided she might as well tell her the truth. "It was... a monster," she said.

"But... it saved us," the fox said. "It-it killed that guy with the knife and it didn't hurt us."

Judy thought back as she heard the sirens of the backup vehicles approaching. She realized Snow was right. The thing that was Joseph had looked right at the children and turned away. And it had only attacked... when the children were about to be killed.

"Yeah," Judy said. "I guess you're right."

The first cop to arrive was Chief Bogo himself. "Hopps!" he called out. "Wilde! Sound off!"

"We're here chief," Nick called back.

"Both of us," Judy added. "The kids are safe."

"Thank God," he said, walking past the ruined cruiser. Suddenly he stopped, seeing the car in his periphery. Slowly, as if in shock, he turned around and looked at the shredded door.

"What. The. Hell?" he growled.

Nick gulped nervously. He knew he and Judy were about to be in big trouble. "Joseph," he stated. "He... he was telling the truth."

Bogo slowly turned to face Nick, his unblinking eyes full of buffalo fury. "What do you mean, 'he was telling the truth'?"

"He changed, sir," Nick said in a low voice, hoping Snow and Daryl wouldn't hear. "Just like he said. I don't know exactly what happened, but I think that, when Joseph saw the children in danger, he changed and…tore his way out of the cruiser." He looked at Judy, and she took his meaning. She quickly led the children away from the scene and to Bogo's cruiser.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Bogo growled, "Tell me exactly what happened."

Nick stood up straight, immediately shifting into professional report mode. "There were multiple assailants, sir. When we arrived, all but one of them fled, a marmot. He had a knife and was about to..." he rapidly blinked, trying to compose himself. "He was about to kill the children. I... I tried to shoot him but..." Nick hung his head in shame. "I forgot to turn the damn safety off. Before the marmot could strike, I heard something screech from behind me and saw a shadow leap over me. It tackled the marmot out of reach of the children."

"And what was it that leapt over you, Wilde?" Bogo said, deathly calm.

"I believe it was Joseph Solomon, sir. It was shaped like a fox, but it had only a few patches of fur and the rest of its body was... scaly. It killed the marmot and ran."

"YOU LOST IT?!" Bogo roared, his calm demeanor shattering like glass.

"Yes, sir," Nick said. "I take full responsibility. Judy had no part in it. I'm the one who failed to fire, and I'm the one who missed the shot on the creature as it ran away."

Bogo pinched the bridge of his snout. "We'll discuss fault later. Right now, we need to find this thing. Now, did it run because it was threatened?"

"I don't think so, sir. From what I saw, I think it might be in pursuit of the other assailants."

"Pursuit?" Bogo asked. "Why would it pursue the others? If this thing's as savage as Solomon said, wouldn't it have just gone for the children?"

"I'm not sure, sir," Nick responded, remembering how the creature had looked at the children and turned away. "I looked into its eyes, Chief, and..." Nick took a deep breath. "I remember looking into the eyes of the animals affected by the Night Howlers, and I saw nothing but instinct and hunger. I saw those in that thing's eyes, too, but that wasn't all. I saw intelligence. Consciousness." Nick looked the Chief right in his unblinking eyes. "Chief Bogo, I think that Joseph was purposefully protecting those children."

Bogo finally blinked. "We'll see," he said. "You take Hopps and the kids back to the station and file a report. I'll put out an APB for Solomon-both versions of him. Dismissed, Wilde."

Bogo nodded curtly, and Nick quickly returned the gesture. He jogged towards one of the cruisers that had just arrived, in which Judy and the kids were sitting, and told the driver that he had orders from Bogo to escort them back to the station.

Once he'd buckled himself in, Judy immediately grasped his paw. Her touch instantly encouraged him, gave him strength. He was so thankful to have her by his side.

"Hey," she said. "You okay?"

Nick sighed deeply. "Not really," he said. He looked into her gorgeous purple eyes. "Better now, though."

At the same time, both instinctually leaned their heads toward each other and kissed, heedless of everything around them. Just like every time they kissed, everything else vanished. There was no pain, no sadness, no fear. Just the love that flowed between the two of them.

"Ewwww!" The groan from the back seat brought the couple back to reality. Snow and Daryl both had their noses wrinkled at the romance, and Daryl was actually covering his eyes with his paws. They must have been feeling a little bit better.

Nick chuckled. "Sorry, kids," he said. "Uh...don't tell anyone you saw that, okay?" It was an unspoken rule that officers weren't supposed to enter into romantic relationships with their partners. Plus, their relationship wasn't exactly public-neither Nick nor Judy knew how people might react to a fox and a bunny being in love.

"We won't," the kids said.

"Thanks," Judy replied. The two officers turned to look out the windshield just as Bogo's voice came over the intercom, putting out the APB for Joseph. As they listened, Nick put the car in gear and began to back out of the alley.

"It's gonna be a long day," he muttered.


	8. Aftermath

Precinct One of the ZPD was unusually quiet for a weekday afternoon. Aside from the footsteps of a few lone officers crossing the foyer and Clawhauser munching on his Lucky Chomps, there was silence. It was as if the very air knew of the tragedy that had nearly befallen Zootopia, and was keeping respectfully silent.

Judy sat on a long bench on the left side of the atrium, her body turned so that she was facing Daryl and Snow, who were sitting on the bench next to her. Daryl was watching Snow play a rather competitive game of Angry Bugs on her phone as the pair waited for their parents to arrive. Every time Snow would beat a level, she'd lift up her left paw and give Daryl a big high-five.

Judy watched the pair with a kind of joyful serenity. Given the traumatic experience they had just been through, they seemed to be doing remarkably well. She knew, however, that the event would leave its mark. Things like this always did. When Judy had been attacked by Gideon Grey as a child, she had been tough and confident, standing up to him like the brave little bunny she was. But for several weeks afterward, she'd suffered terrible nightmares of Gideon Grey chasing her through a forest and ripping her to pieces. She wasn't afraid of him, but getting your face clawed by a fox at nine years old is bound to have a bad effect on any child. Judy couldn't even begin to imagine what these children would go through in the coming nights.

The rabbit officer gave her head a slight shake, breaking herself out of her reverie. She decided it might be best to talk a little with the kids, get to know them. She'd already taken their statements when they got to the station (Nick was in their shared broom closet of an office, filling out a report on the incident), but she figured that the two of them could use a friend more than an officer right now.

"So," she began. The leopard cub looked up, but Snow remained focused on her game. Judy continued, "What did you guys say your parents did?"

Daryl spoke up first. "My mom sells houses, I think. And my dad works on cars."

"Well, that's cool!" Judy said. "And what about your parents, Snow?"

The young vixen kept her eyes fixed on her phone, but her expression changed dramatically. She pursed her lips and a shadow passed over her face. "My mom travels all over trying to get people to buy medicine. She said she's a... sales rep for a pharmaceutical company, I think."

"Neat," Judy responded cordially. "And what about your dad?"

Snow closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. She did not speak.

Daryl leaned over to Judy and began to whisper to her. "Her dad left when she was three, I think. She hasn't seen him since."

"Oh," Judy said quietly. She looked at Snow, who was desperately trying to conceal her emotions, and her heart broke. She couldn't imagine growing up without a father.

Judy got up and moved to sit on Snow's left side, gently lacing her arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry, sweetie," she said. "I didn't—"

"It's fine," Snow said briskly. She quickly rubbed her eyes. "I'm over it."

"If you ever wanna talk-" Judy's offer was suddenly cut short by the sound of the front door of the precinct being thrown open. Looking up, Judy saw that the mammal entering was a tall, regal-looking female leopard wearing a crisp blue pantsuit.

"WHERE'S MY SON?" the leopard roared. "DARYL? DARYL, WHERE ARE YOU?" She whipped her head around the cavernous room until her eyes landed on the bench where Judy and the kids sat.

"DARYL!" she shouted joyfully, running towards the bench with her arms spread wide. Right behind her came a male leopard, who Judy assumed was Daryl's father, wearing a dirty mechanic's uniform and wire-rimmed spectacles. He was silent as he ran with his wife towards his son.

"Mom!" Daryl shouted, running towards his mother. He collided with her as she wrapped her arms around him and locked him in a tight embrace.

"Oh, my goodness, sweetie, are you okay? Are you hurt?" She anxiously checked him over, looking for any signs of injury.

"No, Mom, I'm fine," Daryl insisted. "Oh, Mom, you should have seen it, there was this—"

"Shh," Daryl's mother cut him off, setting him down. "We'll talk about it when we get home." For the first time, Daryl's mother's eyes found Judy. "Thank you," she said tearfully. "Thank you for helping my son."

"No problem, ma'am," Judy responded with a smile, standing up straight and tall. "That's just what we do here at the ZPD."

Judy expected more thankful praise from the mother, but the leopard's eyes had shifted and were now locked on something behind Judy. The look in her eyes was one of pure hate. " _You_ ," she muttered ferociously.

Judy turned around and saw that the object of the leopard's gaze was Snow, who for some reason had been trying to hide herself from view.

Daryl's mother stood up straight and pushed her son towards his father. She had suddenly become much more intimidating.

 _"You!"_  she snarled again, this time much louder. "I knew we never should have let our son spend time with a filthy, conniving little  _fox_!" She spat the last word out like it was poison. "This is all your fault! You could have gotten him  _killed_! If we hadn't let him go with you to the park today, he never would have been in that alley, you shifty little vixen!"

Snow had begun to softly cry and was starting to shake. She pressed herself back against the bench as the leopard began to advance towards her. Judy tried to place herself between the two. "Ma'am, please, it's not her fault—"

Daryl's mother placed her paw on Judy's face and shoved her aside. "Stay out of this, bunny," she said, not taking her gaze off of Snow. All traces of thankfulness and joy were gone from her now. She leaned down, her snout within an inch of Snow's, and looked the little fox dead in the eyes. "Don't you ever,  _ever_  come near my son again, you shifty, mangy, worthless little FOX!"

Before Judy could say anything, Daryl's mother turned on her heel and advanced toward her family. "Come on," she said commandingly. "Let's go home."

"Mom," Daryl muttered, tugging at his mother's shirt, "it's not her f—"

"Quiet, Daryl." She silenced him with a forceful word. "We are  _not_ talking about this, and you are never going to see that fox again."

As the family walked through the precinct doors, Daryl the cub turned around and shouted, "Snow, I'm sorry!" before his mother dragged him into the street. An old van screeched to a halt just before they crossed, prompting Daryl's mother to make a rude paw gesture and shout something that sounded like "ducking poxes".

Aghast at the scene she had just witnessed, Judy turned to Snow. The poor little vixen was sitting on the bench, head down, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs. Tears ran freely down her cheeks.

"Oh, sweetie," Judy crooned, putting her arms around Snow. "It's okay. Don't listen to her. She doesn't know the first thing about foxes." Snow's only response was a loud, choked sob.

Judy once again heard the door open. Out of habit, she looked up to see who was coming in, and her jaw almost hit the floor.

It was Joseph.

He'd changed back into a normal fox. He was still wearing the hoodie and jeans he'd been wearing this morning, only now they were tattered and covered in dried blood. Joseph walked with purpose towards the front desk, taking no notice of Judy or Snow. Although he seemed confident, his face was slack, and his eyes looked dead.

Judy didn't even have to think before acting. Within a second, she had stood up, taken her stance, removed her gun from her hip, and aimed it straight at the fox's head. "FREEZE, JOSEPH!" she shouted.

Joseph's head whipped around to the sound of her voice, and he immediately shifted backwards, raising his paws in a defensive position. "Whoa," he said. "Judy, it's me."

"I know it's you," she said. "I also know that not an hour ago I saw you turn into some kind of hell-beast and rip another animal to shreds. So forgive me if I'm a little overcautious."

"Yeah, I get it," Joseph said. "But I'm fine now. Okay? I'm not gonna change. So... just put the gun down, okay?"

"Not happening," she said. "Now, put your paws on your head, and slowly walk over to the-"

"Officer Judy?" said a little voice from behind her.

"Yes, Snow?" she responded tentatively.

"Is that the...the monster from the alley?"

Judy paused and made eye contact with Joseph. She didn't think that he was truly a monster, not deep down inside, but she couldn't deny what she'd seen. And what could she say, anyway?

"Yeah," Judy muttered. "Yeah, it is, sweetie."

Without warning, Snow ran out from behind Judy and made a beeline for Joseph.

"SNOW, STOP!" Judy shouted in panic.

The little girl crossed the space in half a second, and Joseph didn't know what to do. He simply braced himself, assuming that he was about to get head-butted in the stomach. However, when Snow collided with him, she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his shirt, nearly tackling him to the ground.

The little girl cried quietly against Joseph's abdomen. "You...you saved us," she choked. Snow lifted up her head and locked her big, crystal-blue eyes on Joseph's. "You saved us. Th-th-thank you." She resumed crying into his shirt, muttering a final phrase. "You're my hero," the young vixen whispered.

Judy was shocked. This day just couldn't seem to get any stranger. Looking up from Snow to Joseph, she thought she saw his eyes beginning to tear up.

Joseph gently placed his left paw on Snow's back, the other on top of her head. "It's okay," he muttered, his voice catching. "You're safe now. I promise."

Judy cautiously made her way over to the pair, her gun still aimed at Joseph's forehead. She placed her paw on Snow's shoulder, ushering her away from Joseph. "Come on, Snow," she said. "Come on."

The little vixen gave Joseph's waist one last squeeze, and then went behind the desk with Clawhauser, where Judy had urged her. The rabbit officer slowly lowered her weapon and placed it into the holster on her hip, but didn't fashion the clasp over it.

"Why are you here?" she asked Joseph.

"Because," he said, "I have a—" He was interrupted by a shout from their right.

"Joseph?!" Nick yelled out. "Is that you?"

The fox raised his paw and waved, a bashful smile on his face. "Hey, Nick," he said.

Nick crossed the atrium in a matter of seconds. Seeing that Judy was not in a defensive position, Nick's concern turned from her safety to that of Joseph. "Are you okay?" he inquired.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Joseph said.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well," Joseph said, "like I was saying, I have a delivery."

Both Nick and Judy gave Joseph a puzzled look. "What kind of delivery?" Judy asked tentatively.

Joseph's face suddenly became hard and set as stone. "The other one," he intoned darkly. "The capybara from the alley. I've got him tied up in the back of that van." Joseph jerked his head towards the door, indicating the dark van that had almost hit Daryl's mother.

"So... he's alive?" Nick questioned.

"Oh, yeah," Joseph answered. "I mean, he's not exactly  _well_ , but he'll survive." He said it like he wished this weren't the case. "He should be out for a while, but I'd still get him in cuffs if I were you. The longer he's not in a cell, the less self-control I have."

Nick sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his snout. "Okay," he said. "We'll take care of the capybara, but then we've all got a lot of explaining to do. Bogo's irate enough as it is."

Joseph's face suddenly softened with concern. "Oh, no," he said. "I didn't get you guys in trouble, did I?"

"That has yet to be determined," said Nick. "Let's just get this taken care of quickly so this can all be over."

"Yeah," Joseph said. "Follow me," he said, leading the two out to the van.

The vehicle was a faded indigo color and was pockmarked with rust. Joseph had parked it way too far from the curb, and Judy had to fight the urge to point this out to him. Old habits die hard.

Popping open the back doors of the van, Nick and Judy finally got a good look at the other assailant from the alley. He was indeed a capybara, probably late twenties, wearing a hooded gray tracksuit. There were four large, bloody claw marks across his right arm and a bloodied bump on the back of his head. Joseph had hog-tied him with a length of frayed rope.

"How did you manage this?" Judy asked. "I thought you were kind of...you know..."

"Savage?" Joseph responded. "Yeah. This time was...different. I'll explain it later. First things first." The fox proceeded to drag the unconscious mammal out of the van and bodily lift him above his head, as if he weighed no more than a sack of potatoes.

"Wow," Judy commented, impressed in spite of herself. "Do you work out?" Nick immediately shot her a look, unseen by Joseph, to which she responded by wrinkling her nose at him.

"Perks of being a genetically mutated abomination," Joseph said sarcastically. "Now let's get this guy in a cell so I don't have to smell him anymore."

Within five minutes, the three mammals had the capybara properly cuffed and placed in a holding cell on the lower floor of the station to await processing when he woke up. Upon coming up from the basement stairs, the group saw that chief Bogo was waiting for them. "You three. My office. Now," he growled. With that, Bogo turned around and made his way to the stairs.

"Oh, boy," Joseph said.

Bogo slammed himself down in his chair. "Sit," he said, motioning to the seats in front of the desk. The wall behind him had more emotion in it than his face.

Once the three were seated, Bogo spoke again. "Now," he said, his unblinking eyes fixed unwaveringly on Joseph's, "Wilde has already given me his report. Now I want to hear it from you. What happened?"

Joseph heaved a deep sigh, and then began to speak. "We were at the diner after having lunch with Judy's sister when they got a really urgent call on the transponder. Nick said they had to go and Judy agreed, so they got some guns out of the back of the car and we left. When we got to the alley, Nick told me to stay in the car while he and Judy handled it. I saw the marmot about to kill those kids, and..." Joseph stopped speaking. He appeared to have something caught in his throat.

"And?" Bogo repeated.

Joseph gulped. "And I changed, just like I said I did. I didn't even think about it. It just...happened, like that." He snapped his fingers to indicate the speed of his transformation. "Everything's a blur until..." Joseph shook his head, as if trying to clear it. "The next thing I remember is standing over the dead marmot and…" He groaned suddenly, clutching his stomach. "Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick," he moaned, covering his mouth with his paw.

" _Suck it up_ ," the Chief growled.

The fox took a few deep breaths, swallowed, and continued. "I remember looking right at the kids. And that's the weird thing."

"What's the weird thing?"

Joseph raised his eyes to Bogo's. "Every time I've changed in the last two years, it's like I've gone unconscious. All I remember from when I'm the Monster are bits and flashes, nothing concrete. I'm gone, and the monster takes over. It's like I'm possessed or something. Until today. Today...I was there. I could think, and I could...control it. That's never happened before."

"How can we know that that's actually what happened?" Bogo inquired.

Joseph paused a moment. "Have you ever seen a purely wild animal before, Chief? One that's not evolved, doesn't have the capacity to think beyond instinct? One that's savage?"

For the first time, Bogo lowered his eyes. "Yes," he said. "We all have. A while back, there was a case where a group of prey-supremacist sheep were darting predators and making them go savage. In fact, these two are the ones that solved that case."

Joseph glanced at Nick and Judy, seated to his left, obviously impressed. "Huh. Cool. So, you know what a savage animal looks like. Do you think they would have turned away from easy prey if they were hungry? Or if they were simply filled with blind rage?"

Bogo thought a moment. "No," he finally said. "No, they would not."

"Right," Joseph said. "If I hadn't been in control of my actions today, I would have killed those kids. Because that's what monsters do. But I didn't. That's what was different."

"Is that also why you pursued the other assailant?" Bogo asked.

"Yeah. But I think that might have been more on the predatory instinct side. I managed to catch his scent and followed him back to some old warehouse. He was the only one there. There was another scent, fresh but faint, but I couldn't find anyone else. I ambushed the capybara, knocked him out, tied him up, loaded him into their escape van, and brought him here. And that's pretty much it."

All was silent for almost a minute. Then, the buffalo Chief leaned back in his chair, heaved a deep sigh, and ran his hooves over his face. "Okay," he said at last. "I'm not going to arrest you, since you were technically acting in defense of innocents. But I need to know whether or not you can control this."

"I believe I can, sir," Joseph said. "I know I can now."

"Why do you think that is?"

"Maybe it's whatever changed me into a fox that is also changing my...other self, so to speak. But, really, I think it's something else. I think..." Joseph glanced over at his new friends, who were once again looking at him with concern. "Ever since it happened, I've always been a monster, a wanderer on the earth. I never had a reason to so much as try be anything else. But now...I finally feel like there are people who care about me. Who believe that I can be something more than what I am."

Neither Nick nor Judy could stop the tiny smiles that spread across their faces.

Chief Bogo crossed his massive arms. "Alright, then," he said. "I'll make sure we take down the APB on you, Solomon. But I'd suggest you lay low for a few days. It's not going to be easy keeping this little incident quiet, even if the media hasn't gotten to it yet."

"Okay," Joseph said. "So... that's it?"

"Pretty much. Like I said, you acted out of public interest, so there's no need to arrest you. And, you did bring in several witnesses to the event whom we can also charge with being accessories to attempted murder. So, really, I'd say you did this city a service today, Mr. Solomon." A tiny but genuine smile played across Bogo's lips. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, sir," the fox said. "So, since there's no charges, Ni-, I mean, Officers Wilde and Hopps won't get in trouble, right?"

Bogo's eyes shifted to the two in question. "That is a different story," he said.

"No, it's really not." Joseph surprised all in the room, even himself, with the confidence and authority in his voice. "They did absolutely nothing wrong. They didn't abandon their posts. They didn't endanger the children. And, honestly, there wasn't anything they could have done to stop me killing that guy. Nothing that happened today was their fault. So, if you're going to punish someone, you're going to punish me. God knows I'm probably the only one here who legitimately deserves it."

Bogo looked Joseph dead in the eyes, unblinking, and Joseph returned his gaze. "Fine, then," he said, gritting his teeth. He leaned back in his chair, sighing once again. "Dismissed. All of you. I've got a lot of work to do for this."

"Thank you, Chief," Nick and Judy said in unison. As one, they all stood up and made their way out the door of the office.

As they approached the stairwell leading down to the lower level of the atrium, Judy spoke to Joseph. "Hey," she said. "Thanks for sticking up for us back there."

Joseph smiled. "No problem. After all, you guys did the same for me."

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, the trio were about to go through the front door when they heard a loud sound from behind them.

"JUDY!" a female voice yelled.

Turning around, the three saw that the voice belonged to none other than Jamie Hopps, Judy's sister. She was running towards them at full bunny speed, her wide eyes red and her cheeks tear-stained.

The bunny collided with her sister and locked her in a tight embrace, momentarily oblivious of the two foxes. "Oh, my God, Judy, are you okay?!" she cried. "I-I saw you guys speed off with your lights on and then I heard there was some sort of attack and I thought you were hurt and—"

"Jamie, shush," Judy said, trying to quiet her weepy sister. "It's okay, I'm fine. We're all fine, nobody's hurt."

"Oh, thank God," Jamie said, giving her sister one last squeeze. As she pulled away to dry her eyes, she caught sight of the two foxes. When she saw Joseph's condition, her eyes went wide, and her jaw went slack. " _Joseph?!_ " she practically screeched. "What happened? I thought you said you were all  _fine_ —"

"Jamie," Joseph interrupted, holding up his paws. "I am fine, okay? I just...um..." Joseph wasn't sure where to go with this.

Judy put her paw on her sister's shoulder and attempted to steer her towards the door. "You'd better come with us, Jamie. I think... we've got some stuff we need to talk about."


	9. Hero

 

The silence in the apartment's living room was deafening. Joseph, Judy, and Nick all had their eyes trained on either the coffee table or the floor, while Jamie was staring into space, her eyes wide, shocked at the tale she'd just heard.

At the station, Judy had told Jamie that she should come home with them so they could talk things over. The whole ride there, Jamie had never ceased asking what on earth was going on, and Judy just kept telling her that they'd discuss it at the apartment. When they'd arrived, although Jamie was getting more impatient by the second, Nick, Judy, and Joseph had all insisted that Joseph clean up before they started talking. The smell of dried blood and the onset of decay was beginning to emanate from him fiercely.

After Joseph had showered and changed his clothes (tossing the torn and bloody ones in the garbage), the group had sat down in the living room, and Joseph had told Jamie everything he'd told Bogo, with the inclusion of today's events.

Now, as the four animals sat together, the silence lay over them like a thick woven blanket, smothering them. Judy was the first to speak after Joseph finished his story.

"Jamie," she said gently, laying her paw on her sister's, "I know it sounds crazy, but we've seen it. He's telling the truth."

Jamie gulped, and then spoke for the first time. "So," she said hesitantly, "you're telling me that you come from a different world where animals are un-evolved, and one species rules the planet, and you were kidnapped and turned into a..."

"Monster," Joseph finished for her, deadpan. "Or hybrid. Whichever you prefer."

"Right," Jamie said weakly. She didn't seem to be comfortable using either of those words. "So, you were turned into this...thing, and you were on the run for two years, and then you came here and somehow turned into a fox, and you have no idea why?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Joseph stated matter-of-factly. He took a deep breath. "I know it's a lot to take in-"

"Oh, I don't think you do," Jamie responded, putting her head in her paws.

Joseph lowered his gaze from her face. "Imagine going through it," he said darkly.

Jamie raised her eyes, and Joseph saw that they were filled with tears. He felt a pang in his heart just at the thought that he'd made her cry. Then he wondered why he felt that.

"I'm sorry," Jamie said, wiping her eyes. "It's just...how is all this even possible?"

"I don't know," Joseph said with a shake of his head. "The mutant thing, I'm guessing could be explained through some pretty advanced science. But how I'm a fox, how I got here...your guess is as good as mine. I passed out as a human, and woke up as a fox."

The room was silent for about another minute, until Nick stood up.

"I'm gonna go make some coffee," he said to no one in particular.

"I'll help," Judy said, also rising from the couch. They both knew full well that Nick could make coffee on his own, but they both thought it would be a good idea for Joseph and Jamie to speak privately for a while.

After the pair had left, a tense silence once again filled the room. Jamie decided to break it.

"It... it's all true, isn't it?" she asked, her trembling voice a whisper.

"Yeah," Joseph said. "Unfortunately."

A few moments later, in a hoarse whisper, he said, "I am  _so sorry_."

Jamie looked up at the fox. His head was bowed, his back hunched, his eyes dejectedly staring at the floor, and she thought she saw silent tears falling from eyes to the carpet. "For what?" she responded.

"For dragging you into this," he said, not looking up. "For...for being what I am."

Joseph's words were so full of self-loathing that it broke Jamie's heart.  _My God,_ she thought mournfully,  _he really hates himself_. Jamie herself was surprised at the sudden lump that formed in her throat, her heart moved with sympathy for this poor, broken-down fox.

"You...you don't have to apologize, Joseph," she said, trying to keep her voice steady. "You haven't done anything wrong."

"I've killed people," Joseph stated flatly. "I've butchered them. I…can still taste the blood from earlier…" Joseph put his paw over his mouth, feeling suddenly nauseous.

"He was going to kill two children, Joseph. You said you didn't even think about doing it, you just did. You saved two kids out of pure instinct. That's not something to be ashamed of."

The fox raised his teary eyes to Jamie's. "I really wish I could believe that," he said.

Jamie let out a deep sigh. "Joseph," she said after a few seconds of silence, "let me ask you something. Do you  _want_  to be this way? Do you really want to hurt people?"

"No," Joseph said hoarsely. "Of course I don't. I'd give anything to just be normal again."

"Okay," she said. "And did you  _want_ to save those kids today?"

"Yes," Joseph said without hesitation. "Of course I did."

"Right," she said. "So, when you hurt people, like when you escaped the base, or when you…" She had to take a deep breath before saying the words. "Or when you killed that marmot today, you weren't in control of your own actions. That... _thing_  was. But when you saved two children, you  _were_  in control. You  _chose_  to save them." Jamie got up from her chair and sat by Joseph's side on the couch, barely two inches away from him. "That's not something to be sorry for," she said softly.

Joseph glanced at Jamie, unable to look her in the eyes for more than half a second. "I'm still a monster," he muttered.

"No," Jamie stated emphatically. "You are  _not_. Monsters are evil. Monsters don't sacrifice everything to keep people safe. Monsters don't want to be better than they are. Monsters don't save two defenseless children without even thinking about it. You know who does things like that?" The bunny suddenly reached out her paw and grasped Joseph's chin, turning his head so that he looked right into her sky-blue eyes. " _Heroes_ , Joseph. Heroes do things like that. Just because you have this...condition, doesn't make you a monster. The fact that you're doing your best to be good, the fact that you acted to save two children without even thinking about it—that makes you a hero in my book."

Joseph cast his gaze downward, unable to look into Jamie's eyes any longer. For some reason, just being this close to her made his normally steady pulse become erratic and uneven.

"I've seen heroes, Jamie," he said. "Like, real, actual, flesh-and-blood heroes. And I am  _nothing_  like them." He gave a sarcastic, humorless snort. "Except for maybe the big green guy."

Jamie dropped her paw and let out a sigh of frustration. "Joseph, why can't you see that you are a good person who happens to have a problem?"

"Because I  _can't,_ " Joseph retorted frustratedly. "I  _actually_  can't. I've never been able to. It's part of the disease."

"What disease?"

Joseph let out a heavy sigh, passing a paw over his face before he responded. "Depression," he admitted, feeling more tired than he had ever felt in his life. "Clinical depression. I've had it since I was a little kid. It makes it...impossible to see any good in myself. It's like, I  _know_  it's there, I know there's good in me, but it's just not  _real_. Just like when...when Nick and Judy say they care about me. In my head, I know it's true, but in my heart...I just can't understand it. Every time I look at myself, I can only see everything that's bad in me. It makes it so I can't even imagine that...someone would love me...or even care about me."

"I do," Jamie said without hesitation, and she knew she meant it. " _I_  care about you, Joseph. And if you need me to tell you every single day that you are a good person who has true value, then I'll do it. 'Cause I know it's true."

The fox looked back up at the bunny, staring at her in disbelief. "Why aren't you scared of me?"

"Because I don't think I have to be," Jamie said. "I think you're too good to hurt me, even on accident. If you felt the...change coming on, do you think you'd stand by and wait for me to get hurt?"

Joseph responded without hesitation. "No," he stated emphatically. "I would kill myself before I put you in harm's way."

Jamie was taken aback by the fox's comment. Although she knew he wouldn't let her get hurt, his reaction was a little...melodramatic. His voice was full of raw emotion—the kind of emotion you don't usually express for someone you've just met.

"Right," she said, hoping he couldn't notice the heat rising in her cheeks. "I don't have any reason to be scared."

Without even thinking about what she was doing, Jamie reached out and took Joseph's paw in her own, holding it in a firm but gentle grip. She could feel his pulse speeding up through his fur.

"You are  _good,_  Joseph," she told him, looking him in the eye. "Don't let anyone tell you any different. Not even yourself."

Joseph looked down at their entwined paws and made no move to extricate himself from Jamie's grasp. After a moment of silence, he spoke.

"Thank you," he said softly. "You...you don't know how much words like that mean to me." He let out a light chuckle. "You know, between you and Nick and Judy, I'm pretty sure I've received more kindness and compassion in the last three days than I have in the majority of my life."

Jamie smiled at him. "You're welcome," she said, and suddenly pulled him into a hug. "You've got my number. Promise me you'll call if you need anything, okay?"

"I promise," Joseph said, hesitantly returning Jamie's hug. At this point, he felt like he was on emotional overload.

As Jamie pulled back from the hug, she did something that made Joseph's heart literally skip a beat-several, in fact. She pulled back from him, looked him straight in the eye, and then leaned in and gave him one quick kiss on the cheek.

"I'm gonna go see if they still need help with that coffee," Jamie said with a glowing smile, and went into the kitchen.

Joseph sat there, frozen in place. Never, not once in his eighteen years of life, had a girl ever kissed him or even so much as held his hand. He'd never even been on actual date. Now, here he was, sitting on a couch in the middle of a city full of talking animals, and he'd just received his first real sign of affection from a girl who happened to be a  _rabbit_.

Joseph really didn't know how his life could get much stranger.

Then, as he finally started to move again, the horrible realization hit him, and with it, his life somehow became even more complicated. As soon as the thought entered his mind, he knew it was true. He also knew that it was very likely to cause nothing but pain and sorrow, something he'd quite had his fill of.

Joseph Solomon realized that, despite all the safeguards he'd taken, all the walls he'd built up inside himself to prevent this, somehow, it was still happening.

He was falling for Jamie Hopps.

* * *

Judy leaned against the kitchen counter and watched as her boyfriend began to make coffee. She had a feeling that nobody in the house really wanted any, but both she and Nick had felt a need to let Jamie and Joseph talk alone. Judy knew that the two had already forged some sort of connection—what kind, she couldn't yet tell—but somehow, she knew they'd be able to talk through this.

As Nick plugged in the coffee maker and it began to brew, he looked over at Judy and saw that she was deep in thought. He quickly crossed the short distance between them and placed his paws on her shoulders. "Hey," he said softly, "you okay, Carrots?"

Judy looked up, broken out of her reverie. "Yeah," she said. "I just..." She took a deep breath, let it out. "Nick, what have we gotten ourselves into? What are we gonna do? I mean, we don't know what might set him off again, and I don't know if we can take him if he does change—"

"Hey," Nick cut her off. "He's not gonna change. Joseph's gonna be fine.  _We_  are going to be fine."

"How can you know that?" Judy questioned. "Nick, you saw what he turned into, you saw what he did-"

"You're right," he said. "I did see. I saw Joseph lose control, turn into a monster, and  _save two kids_. He's fine, Judy. I trust him." He put his paws on her cheeks and lifted her purple eyes to meet his green ones. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do, Nick," Judy said without hesitation. Nick's wide green eyes were melting her heart again. "I trust you with my life."

"Come here," Nick said after a brief pause. He pulled his bunny love against his chest, wrapping her in a hug. "I love you, Judy."

"I love you too, Nick," Judy said. "God, I love you so much."

Nick leaned down and gave Judy a long, loving kiss on the forehead, then led her over to the kitchen table. "Come on," he said. "There's something else I want to talk to you about."

"What is it?" she said, sitting down in one of the wooden chairs.

Nick took a deep breath, and then spoke. "Judy, I love you more than I ever thought I could love anyone or anything. And I… I don't wanna keep that a secret anymore. I want people to know that we're in love."

"Nick," Judy said, "you know I want that, too, but you know that this kind of relationship comes with risks."

"I know," Nick said. "I know."

For as long as anyone in Zootopia could remember, there had always been a social stigma surrounding inter-species relationships. They weren't illegal, of course, and they never had been. They were just extremely, extremely rare. It hardly ever happened that animals from two different species fell in love. It was simply a natural biological inclination that one species should find a mate within its own species. However, when inter-species relationships did happen, they were sometimes met with disapproval and disgust, if not outright hostility.

Although most mammals didn't take much issue with inter-species relationships, there were still those who saw these relationships as something unnatural and inherently wrong. However, none of them could really come up with a good, logical argument to defend that position. Most of the animals who opposed relationships like Nick and Judy's only did so because they saw it as "outside the norm". Even though it wasn't a good reason, these animals still held to it like a lifeline. They just didn't want things to change from the way they thought they always had been.

Judy could only remember one widely publicized inter-species relationship in her lifetime, and it hadn't ended well. She'd been thirteen at the time. She remembered watching the news one evening, and a story had come up about an inter-species couple living in the Rainforest District in Zootopia. Their names were Zach Larson and Leah O'Malley, a wolf and a cheetah, respectively. Word had gotten around that the two had been secretly dating and were now engaged, and a small (but still significant) group of animals had erupted into a protest that rivaled the anti-predator fury of the Night Howler Crisis. It had gone on for weeks, with marches and sit-ins and picket lines across the districts, mostly begun by those opposed to inter-species relationships. They had said that the couple was an abomination against nature. The more sound-minded animals had tried to peacefully protest back, but the others had simply shouted over them. Then, one small faction of the opposed went way beyond the line of reason.

One night, as Leah was walking home from work, a small group of the opposed had surprised her, dragged her into an alley, and beaten her to death. They were arrested not long after, and each member of the group was given a life sentence. The strain, however, had been too much for Zach. Two weeks after his fiancé's murder, Zach Larson was found dead in his living room, an empty bottle of painkillers on the table next to him, and a picture of Leah clenched in his paw.

This was what Judy feared if she and Nick decided to come out in public about their relationship. She feared ridicule. She feared isolation. But most of all, she feared that someone might try to hurt Nick. If something happened to him because of their relationship, Judy would never forgive herself.

All of this flashed through Judy's mind in just a few seconds, in which the two of them were silent. Judy turned her thoughts back to the present. Even amidst the darkness of the memories, a reassuring thought had come to her.

"Nick, honey," she said, laying her paw on top of his, "I love you in ways that words would never be able to describe. And I want everyone to know that. I wanna shout it from the rooftops that I love Nick Wilde."

Nick smiled at his beloved bunny. She never ceased to amaze him.

"I don't care what they'll say," she continued. "I don't care what they're going to do, because I know our love is stronger than their hate. Whatever storm comes, I know we can weather it. 'Cause we're partners."

Judy reached out and grasped Nick's other paw. He could feel the warmth flowing out from her. It gave him immense comfort.

"Besides," Judy said, "we're the first bunny and fox in the ZPD. We've already made history. Who's to say we can't do it again?"

Nick looked at the determined little bunny who had forever changed his life, and wondered how he got so lucky. Smiling, he slowly shook his head in disbelief and awe of her.

"I could have tried for a million billion years," he said softly, "and I never would have been able to imagine someone as perfect as you."

A smile broke across Judy's face as she began to feel herself choke up. "You are a sly fox, Mr. Wilde," she said, leaning in to kiss him.

"And you," Nick said, leaning in also, "are my perfect little bunny."

As their lips met, Nick knew that Judy would always be the only one for him. He wanted to be with her for the rest of his life.

As they were kissing, a quick, fleeting image passed through Nick's mind. He didn't know where it came from, and it was completely unbidden. In his mind, Nick instantly saw Judy and himself, locked in an embrace. He was wearing a sleek black-and-white tuxedo, and Judy was wearing a long, flowing, fluffy white dress. A wedding dress.

The image lasted less than an instant, but Nick knew that it was his destiny. He didn't know when, but he knew that he would make sure that, one day, it would come true.

The couple broke apart when they heard a small "Oh!" from the kitchen doorway. It was Jamie. "Oh, sorry, I—I didn't mean to interrupt." She cast her gaze downward in a sheepish expression.

"It's fine," Judy said quickly, habitually trying to straighten her clothes, even thought they were pristine. "Did you want some coffee, Jamie?"

"No, that's okay," the bunny said. "I was actually just gonna get going. My shift starts at seven tomorrow morning and... well, after today, I think I'm gonna need some more rest than usual."

"Yeah, I get that," Nick said with a grin. "Uh, sorry about, you know, dragging you into all this."

"Oh, it's fine," Jamie said. "After all, I was the one who came and found you guys. I dragged myself in."

"Okay," Judy said, rising from the table and walking toward her sister. "You call me tomorrow and tell me how you're doing, okay?"

"Sure thing, sis," Jamie said. She wrapped Judy in a hug. "Love you."

"Love you, too, Jamie. See you later."

"Bye, Nick," she said, waving to the fox. "Have a good night."

"You too, Jamie," he responded. "See ya."

"See ya," she said, then turned and left the house, saying a quick goodbye to Joseph in the living room on her way out. Judy saw that, as she passed him, she laid a paw on his shoulder for just a moment, and then left.

Once she was gone, Judy turned to Nick. "Is it just me," she said, "or is she taking this unusually well?"

"Yeah," Nick said. "I think I might have an idea why." He motioned for his girlfriend to come sit by him so he could whisper to her, not wanting their guest to overhear. Nick leaned in close to Judy and whispered, "I think she likes him."

"Really?" Judy said, leaning back skeptically. "They've only known each other for three hours. Don't you think it's a little soon for that?"

"Well," Nick said, shrugging, "love is a strange thing." He once again reached out and grasped her paw. "You and I are living proof of that."

"You're right," she said, leaning in to kiss her fox once more, all other thoughts momentarily vanishing. "We are."


	10. Fire on the Ice

"Oh, Nick, come  _on_!" Judy whined.

"Nope. Not happening." Said the fox, crossing his arms and turning up his nose at the bunny before him. "No way, no how."

"But, Nick, you  _promised!_  You said I could pick where we went, and this is what I wanna do!"

"I get that, Carrots, but I just don't feel comfortable going on a date that might result in my spine getting broken!"

Judy huffed and crossed her arms as well. "You foxes, so overdramatic. You'll be  _fine_ , Nick!"

The couple stood in their bedroom, one on either side of the bed. They'd just been getting ready to snuggle up and go to sleep when Judy thought she'd mention that she knew where she wanted to go for their next date, which they had scheduled for the coming weekend. Nick had decided to let Judy pick their venue on this occasion. However, he hadn't counted on the place she had chosen.

"I'm not being dramatic, Carrots. I may be quick on my feet, but that's only on  _normal_  ground, not on ice!"

"Oh, come on!" Judy groaned. "All those years making pawpsicles in Tundratown and you never  _once_ went out on the ice?"

"As a matter of fact, I did," Nick retorted. "And I fell every time, just ask Finnick. So far, the only thing the ice has given me is a chipped tooth, three sprained wrists, four broken noses, and a twisted ankle. I am  _not_ going ice skating, even if it is with the most beautiful bunny in the world."

"Oh, you're not going to charm your way out of this one, Slick," Judy said with a sneer and a shake of her finger. She put her paws on her hips stubbornly. "If you're that afraid of falling, I will gladly hold your paw the whole time and teach you how to skate. But you said you'd let me pick for this date, and I plan to hold you to that."

"Sorry, Carrots," Nick said, laying down on the bed and covering himself with their shared blanket. "It's not happening."

Judy heaved an exasperated sigh. She could see that Nick wasn't going to bend easily on this subject. If she really wanted him to take her ice skating, she was going to have to use some different tactics. Some more… _Nick-ish_  tactics.

Judy hung her head and muttered "Fine" very sullenly as she climbed into bed with her fox. She immediately got under the covers and snuggled up against him, the familiar warmth of his strong, red-furred arms wrapping around her momentarily making her light-headed. "It's just…" she sighed again and gave the tiniest hint of a sniffle. "It's just, my mom used to take me skating all the time during winter back in Bunnyburrow. Not with all the other kids, you know, just me and her. It was…so fun. Those were some of the only times we ever spent alone, just the two of us." She rubbed at the corner of her eye with her paw, although her eyes were completely dry. "But then, when I went to the academy and joined the ZPD, I never got to go skating with her anymore. I just…really want to go again because…I miss it so much…" Judy let out tiny squeak and looked up at Nick, giving him what he had come to call the "Carrot Eyes". "You know?" she said tearfully.

Nick gazed into the amethyst pools that were his girlfriend's eyes and felt his heart clench. Why was it so impossible to resist those eyes?

Nick put his paws to his face and let out a loud groan. "Okay," he said from behind his paws. "We can go ice skating when we have off this weekend. Just  _please_ stop making that face at me. I'm already about five seconds away from a stroke."

Judy squealed with delight, then wrapped her arms around Nick's neck and pressed her lips to his. The fox placed one paw on the small of her back and the other just below her ears, pressing her body to his and deepening the kiss. Then he pulled away before his heart could explode.

"You really are one sly bunny," he said breathlessly, leaning back and gazing at the girl he loved so dearly.

Judy gazed into her boyfriend's emerald eyes, the same expression on her face as she'd had after she'd booted Finnick's stroller. "It's called a hustle, sweetheart," she said, and leaned in for another kiss.

They sat there on the bed, simply kissing each other, for almost five whole minutes. During this time, Judy let her mind—and, to Nick's delight, her paws—wander. He was so  _gullible_ sometimes. Sure, the story had been true, but honestly, she just wanted to go skating for the fun of it, less than to relive the memories with her mother. Those skating trips had all been at Judy's prompting, and her mother had constantly warned her to be careful, being the over-protective bunny she was.

Judy marveled at how easy it was to get Nick to do what she wanted sometimes. Were all foxes this bendable, or was it just him? Sometime she'd have to try the Carrot Eyes on Joseph to see if she could get him to clean the bathro—

Judy's eyes snapped open and she immediately pulled away from the kiss, which elicited a whine of displeasure from her boyfriend. "Oh, fertilizer," she muttered, her ears going slack against her skull.

"What is it, Carrots?" Nick said in his characteristically sardonic tone. "I thought I was doing pretty well."

"No, it's not that," she said. "It's Joseph."

Nick's heart skipped a beat. Had she been thinking about the other fox while she was  _kissing_ him?

"Um, what about Joseph?" Nick questioned, doing his best to hide his nervousness.

"We still have to watch him.  _Including_ on our days off."

Nick let out a groan as he realized what the bunny was saying, even if he was relieved that she hadn't been thinking about Joseph  _that_ way.

It had been nearly a week since the incident in the alley, and everything had calmed down better than anyone expected. The police had cordoned off the area soon enough that no one from the media could see in, allowing the ZPD to release the official statement that Officers Wilde and Hopps had eliminated the threat and tracked down the remaining assailants. No mention was made of Joseph or the massacre, and it seemed that no one was any the wiser about it. However, Bogo had insisted that the pair keep Joseph under their watch 24/7, at least for a couple more weeks until they could be absolutely certain that everything had run its course. That meant that, if they went anywhere, including on a date, they would have to take the young fox with them, or else face the Chief's wrath. Given that he had once shattered the precinct doors because Officer Delgato had accidently ticketed the Chief's vehicle, they wanted to avoid making the buffalo angry at any and all costs.

" _Nuts,_ " Nick murmured, returning to the conversation. "I like the kit and all, but I  _really_ don't want to have to take him on our date. Especially since he'll be able to watch me wipe out and break my face."

Judy let out an involuntary snort. One of the things she loved about Nick was his ability to retain his sense of humor even in difficult situations.

She let out a sigh, the humor leaving as quickly as it had come. "Well," she said, "I guess we can either take him with us or wait to go until Bogo says he can be alone."

"Yeah," Nick reluctantly agreed. "I guess that's all we can do." He leaned back on the headboard of the bed, closing his eyes and trying to think of a better solution. He couldn't readily find one. It would be incredibly awkward to have Joseph sitting on the sidelines, watching the couple skate (and kiss). It would be even worse if he skated  _with_ them, as that would turn it from an intimate date into what Nick would almost describe as a family outing. About the only way that it wouldn't be awkward was if Joseph had someone else to skate with…

Nick's eyes snapped open as an idea occurred to him. "Hey, Carrots," he said, sitting up.

"What?" she said, somewhat pouty.

"It would be really awkward if Joseph came along and was just the third wheel on our date, right?"

"Um,  _yeah,_ " the doe said, wondering why Nick would ask such an obvious question.

"Well, what if he didn't have to be the third wheel?" Nick said, his old sly smirk spreading across his muzzle. "What if…we turned it into a double date?"

Judy slowly blinked at her boyfriend, annoyed at what she thought to be his characteristic sarcasm. "Yeah," she said, her own voice dripping with it, "because Joseph has vixens lined up around the block pawing for a chance to skate with him. Seriously, Nick, who would he go with?"

Nick glanced at the digital alarm clock on his nightstand, seeing that it was almost 10:30 at night. "How late does Jamie usually stay up?" he asked, his eyes half-lidded in a distinctly Nick-ish expression.

"You're  _kidding_ me," she said in disbelief. "You want me to ask my sister to go on a double date with a fox she's met  _twice_ , just so it won't be as weird for us?"

"Well, it doesn't have to be an  _actual_  double date, Carrots," Nick said, rolling over onto his side so as to look more clearly at Judy. "We can just say that the three of us are going to go ice skating this weekend, and we'd really like her to come along. After all, it's not like you two have seen each other a whole lot lately."

Judy deflated slightly. She had to admit, Nick had a point. It would be much less uncomfortable for the two of them if Joseph had someone else to spend time with. Plus, she could handle some more time with her sister, even if it was during a date.

 _And_ , she thought to herself,  _if Jamie's there, you know Joseph's going to enjoy it._

The bunny chuckled lightly to herself. The few times she'd mentioned Jamie to Joseph in the last week, she'd immediately seen a glint in his eyes that said that he was very interested in anything having to do with the other Hopps sister. Even if Judy wasn't the best at reading emotional cues (she'd had no idea that Nick liked her until he formally asked her out), she could tell that Joseph was falling for her sister, and he was falling  _hard._ She had to admit, the fox could do worse. And, if she really thought about it, so could her sister.

Judy glanced up at her partner, a sly smirk of her own now grazing her lips. She reached over to the nightstand on her side of the bed and grabbed her phone off of it, firing off a quick text to her sister.

_Hey, u still awake?_

A few moments later, the phone vibrated in her paw, indicating a new message, which she promptly opened.

_Yeah. What's up?_

Judy thought for a moment over how she should put this, then decided to just be forward.

_R u busy this Sunday?_

A second later, another buzz.  _No, I have off. Y?_

 _Nick, Joseph, and I are gonna go ice skating. U wanna come? It'll be just like back home, except we'll be able to watch foxes faceplant into the snow._ Judy let out a tiny giggle as she sent that one, prompting a raised eyebrow from her boyfriend.

This time, the phone was silent for almost two whole minutes. Judy was beginning to wonder if she'd made a mistake when the phone finally buzzed again.

_Sounds fun! U wanna pick me up?_

_Sure,_ she responded, relieved.  _11:30?_

 _Sounds good. C u Sunday sis!_ With that, the conversation was over.

Nick looked expectantly at the doe on the bed. "Well?" he said.

"She's in," Judy said with a smile. She placed the phone back on the night stand, snuggling up to her sweetheart and getting back under the covers. "Nicholas Wilde, you are one devious fox."

"Not as devious as you, Fluff," Nick said with a chuckle. He then placed his paw on Judy's cheek, turning her eyes to gaze into his. The emerald fields of his irises held more tenderness than usual, making Judy's ears heat up involuntarily. "You managed to steal my heart without me even knowing."

Judy stared at her boyfriend.  _Damn_ , she thought slowly.  _How did he get so good at this?_

She put her paws on Nick's cheeks, bringing his muzzle closer to hers. "Shut up and kiss me, you dumb fox."

Nick made no snarky reply; he merely did as he was told. He took Judy in his arms and rolled over so that his body was positioned directly above hers, a playful growl seeping from between his teeth as he pressed his lips firmly against those of his girlfriend. Every other thought and reality fled from the reynard's mind as Judy began ferociously nuzzling his neck, right on the spot where she felt his pounding heartbeat. As the two lovers sunk deeper into each other's embrace, neither gave a thought to the young fox down the hall…or his hypersensitive hearing.

They wouldn't be getting to sleep any time soon.

* * *

 _SCREEEEEEEEEECH_.

The silver sedan skidded to a stop on the icy Tundratown road, all four mammals within having brief flashes of their lives go through their minds.

After a brief moment of regaining her breath, Judy gave her boyfriend a firm smack on the arm. "NICHOLAS PIBERIUS WILDE!" she yelled. "I told you that you need to start braking earlier when we're in Tundratown. That's the third time today you've almost ran a stop sign!"

"I had it under control, Carrots," Nick said from the driver's seat, although Judy's sensitive hearing caught his heart beating at a mile a minute. "I can't help it you distracted me."

"Oh, how did I distract you?" Judy said, still slightly fuming.

"You were trying to give me directions and were getting all flustered," the fox said with a smirk. "And when you get flustered you're really quite…" he leaned over to whisper the last word in Judy's ear. "…cute."

Judy slowly turned her head from the road to look into Nick's eyes. Her pupils were pinpricks in the amethyst pools of her irises.

" _Don't_ ," she said in a dangerously soft voice, "call me cute." The frightening calm in her voice caused the vulpine to lean as far back from her as he could, suddenly fearing for his life.

"Now," the rabbit said, her voice returning to its normal tone, "switch seats with me. I'm driving the rest of the way."

"Carrots!" Nick exclaimed in a wounded voice. "Are you implying that I am not capable of safely operating this vehicle?"

"YES, DEFINITELY," said two voices in tandem from the back seat.

Both Nick and Judy leaned past the back of their seats to look at the mammals in the back. Jamie and Joseph were seated side by side, their bodies rigid with fright, eyes staring straight ahead. Judy glanced down and, with the tiniest of smirks, noticed something else very interesting about their positions.

Their paws were laying on the seat between them, Jamie's fingers firmly gripping Joseph's as if they were a lifeline.

Nick let out an airy chuckle. "You two okay back there?" he asked, his eyes flitting to their entwined paws.

Both fox and bunny followed the path of Nick's gaze, and, seeing their paws clenched tightly together, immediately released their grip.

"Fine," Jamie said, frantically wiping her now-sweaty paw on her indigo parka. "Be better if we didn't have a crazy vulpine trying to smash us into a snowbank, though." Jamie glanced over at her friend, who had his eyes fixed on the paws in his lap.

"Joseph," Judy said, taking note of his silence, "you good?"

"Mm-hmm," Joseph said, quickly glancing up. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Judy gave the fox a friendly smile. She could tell that he was nervous being in such close proximity to her sister, and was now even more flustered by the fact that he'd just been involuntarily holding her paw.

 _Smitten as a kitten_ , Judy thought to herself.

For the last four days, Joseph had clearly been very anxious about the upcoming outing with Judy, Nick, and Jamie. When Judy had first told him the morning after she texted Jamie that the four of them would be going ice skating this Saturday, he had desperately tried to get out of it, insisting that he'd be fine on his own and had never skated before in his life. She'd quashed his response, however, telling him that Bogo still wanted him to be watched 24/7 for at least another week. Finally, Joseph had relented, wilting like a flower in his chair. Judy assured him that the outing would be fun.

Now, as Judy pulled into the parking lot right next to the ice-skating rink (having switched seats with Nick), she could hear Joseph's breathing begin to increase in pace. He was even more nervous about this double-date-but-not-a-double-date than she had thought _. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea_ , she thought. Then she rapidly shook the thought from her head. Joseph had been cooped up either in the house or the cruiser almost the whole time he'd been in Zootopia, and he didn't even have a real life for two years before that. He needed to get out and have some fun—whether he liked it or not.

Judy put the car in park and hopped out, circling around to the back to grab the ice skates out of the trunk. Nick joined her, lifting out an insulated picnic basket that contained cookies, cups, and a thermos full of Judy's home-made hot chocolate.

Hearing the other two car doors shut, Judy looked up to see Joseph coming towards her. "You guys are gonna have to help me out here," he said, a nervous chuckle in his voice. He picked up his designated pair of skates and said, "I've never even put a pair of these things on before."

"Don't look at me," Nick said sarcastically. "I've got about as much experience ice skating as Carrots has driving trains."

"Hey!" his partner said, indignant. "I think I did alright."

"The train crashed and exploded, Carrots. And it took most of the evidence with it."

"If I recall correctly, it was  _you_ who tipped the car over. I was hanging off the front drop-kicking a ram."

"Fair point," Nick said, trying to undo the laces on his skates. "Anyway, Joseph, you're not the only one here with no experience."

"Well, at least I won't be alone in my humiliation," the fox said. This comment elicited a slight giggle from Jamie, who was sitting on a nearby bench on the edge of the rink, already lacing up her skates. The sound sent a sudden swarm of butterflies through Joseph's stomach.

 _Stop it_ , he thought to himself, hoping that his face didn't betray his emotions.  _Bad bad BAD. BAD FEELINGS. GO AWAY_. He then made his way over to a bench a few feet from the one Jamie was sitting on, sat down, and began to put on his skates.

Jamie looked at the vulpine with a slightly wounded expression.  _Does he not want to sit next to me?_  she thought. He had seemed kind of distant in the car. Jamie hoped she hadn't already spoiled their budding friendship with the kiss she'd planted on his cheek a couple weeks ago. She'd just wanted to show him that she cared about him, even after only knowing him for a few hours. Now she wondered if she hadn't just made things awkward between them.

Jamie looked over at Joseph. He'd managed to get his skates on, but was clearly struggling in trying to tie them.

"You need some help, Joseph?" she asked.

Joseph looked up, then immediately back down. "Yeah," he said quietly. He was suddenly grateful that he now had orange fur, which covered the blush rising in his cheeks. "I'm just not used to…" he held up his paws. "These."

The rabbit gave him a gracious smile. "Here, let me help," she said, and, as if she had been doing it her whole life (which she pretty much had) she stood up and skated over to Joseph, coming to rest in a kneeling position just before him. She immediately began to tie the laces at his feet.

Now Joseph was very thankful for the orange fur. He looked down at Jamie, who was concentrating on his skates, and noticed an orange blur behind his legs. He realized that it was his tail, wagging back and forth involuntarily through a space in the bench. He immediately stopped it, though it took him a moment-he was still getting used to the appendage.

"There ya go!" Jamie said, rising from the ground in one swift motion. "Now you're all set to skate."

"I guess we'll see," Joseph said.

"You guys ready?" he heard Judy ask from a bench a few feet to the right. Like her sister, she was standing naturally on the skates, while her fox sat nervously on the bench.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Joseph stated. He and Nick both tried to get up at the same time, and both foxes none too gracefully slipped back onto their respective benches, unable to get up.

Judy cast a sly glance to her sister. "Foxes," she said with a roll of her eyes. She reached down and grabbed her boyfriend's arm, hauling him to his feet and letting him lean on her.

"Thanks, Carrots," he said.

"Oh, don't thank me yet," came the snarky reply as she pulled him onto the rink.

Jamie turned back to the fox on the bench. "Ready?" she said, holding out her paw in a gesture of aid. After hesitating for a moment, Joseph took it.

"Sure am," he said, trying to sound confident.

"Good, let's go!" said the rabbit, and swiftly pulled him out onto the ice.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" he said, desperately trying to stay upright. "Slow down a little. I've never done this before, remember?"

"Don't worry, Joseph," the doe said. "As long as you've got me, you won't fall." She cast a sweet glance at him that made Joseph's heart throb.

"Thanks," he managed to choke out.

She was right, for a while at least. Both the bunnies were teaching their respective foxes the basics of skating: how to stand upright, how to move forward and back, and so on. Joseph did fine as long as Jamie held onto his arm, but Nick could barely seem to go a whole minute without falling on his tail, a fact which the others found hilarious.

"Laugh it up, fuzzball," Nick said as Judy helped him up from his sixth fall in five minutes. "Your time will come."

"I'm sure it will," Joseph said with a smirk, standing almost completely on his own now. "I just hope doesn't keep on coming like yours seems to be."

Nick let loose a low, sarcastic growl, but he was glad that the kit seemed to be enjoying himself. Over the last two weeks, Nick had gotten the sense that Joseph wasn't the kind of person that really smiled much—or really ever had a reason to.

Jamie dragged Joseph away from the pair, ready to teach him another lesson. "Okay, Joseph, I think it's about time you skated on your own now."

Joseph's head swiveled rapidly towards the bunny, a look of fear dawning in his eyes. "Okay, just hold on a second—" he said nervously.

"Nope!" Jamie said with a hysterical laugh. She grabbed Joseph's other paw and began to spin him in a circle. She found the look of trepidation in his amber eyes highly amusing.

"Rabbit," he said, "whatever you do, do  _not_  let go!"

"I'm gonna let go!" she said in a sing-song voice.

"No, you—WHAT?!"

"One," Jamie counted, delighted by the panicked look in Joseph's eyes. "Two."

"No, no, no, no-" Joseph stuttered in terror.

"THREE!" Jamie shouted, releasing her hold on Joseph's paws, letting him go flying across the ice.

"No no no no RAAAABBBIIIIT!" Joseph yelled as he went skidding across the icy surface, somehow managing to stay upright, but having no way to stop himself. Jamie had made sure that she had let him go in a position that would land him right in an elephant-sized pile of fluffy white snow on the edge of the rink. It was into this small mountain that Joseph presently crashed, releasing a loud "oomph!" as his body disappeared into the powdery mound.

Nick, now back on his feet, simply stared at Jamie, beginning to wonder if all the Hopps children were as sly as his own girlfriend.

"Is it just me, or did that really remind you of a little adventure we had on Vine and Tujunja?" he asked, purposefully mispronouncing the name.

"It's Tu-hung-ga," Judy said, thinking back fondly to the event. "And yes, it did. After all, that was the first time I saved your life."

"For which I am eternally grateful," Nick said, leaning down and planting a kiss on Judy's head, just between her ears. Looking up, he saw that Judy's sister was slowly making her way towards the snow pile that now contained Joseph Solomon. Seeing an opportunity, Nick placed his paw on Judy's chin, lifted her face to look at him, and pressed his lips to hers.

A shiver passed through Judy's body. After a nearly half-hour drive to Tundratown, she was more than happy to have a little affection.

Nick pulled away from the kiss, but left his nose resting against that of his partner. "Love you, sly bunny," he whispered tenderly to her.

"Love you too, dumb fox," she replied, and placed a parting peck on his lips. That small amount of bunny love was apparently too much for the fox, as his feet slid out from under him and he once again fell to the ice, eliciting a giggle fit from Judy.

After both of them had regained their composure and Judy had helped Nick back to his feet, they skated over to the snow mound where Jamie was standing, trying to hold in her laughter as she looked at the defeated, half-buried fox within. Only his feet, paws, and the tip of his muzzle were visible.

"You okay in there, Joseph?" she managed to say.

The fox's muzzle opened, barely managing to speak through the snow cascading into his mouth. "I have fallen, and I choose NOT to get up!"

"Oh, come on, Joseph!" Jamie said, beginning to dig him out. "We haven't even been here fifteen minutes and you're already giving up?"

"Yep," the fox said, finally pushing his face out of the mound of fluff. "I'm made of three different species, and I'm pretty sure that none of them evolved to fly around on the ice."

"See, Carrots? He gets it," Nick said, earning him a punch in the arm from Judy. She meant it to be gentle, but Nick's pained "ow" told her that she needed to learn her own strength.

"Oh, it's just one fall," Jamie said, freeing her friend from his chilly prison. She stood him up and dusted the snow off of his shoulders. "Besides, why do we fall?"

A confused look passed over Joseph's face. "Um, so that bunnies can laugh at our pain?"

Jamie gave him a smile and a gentle poke in the shoulder. "So that we can learn to pick ourselves up," she said.

Joseph simply stared at the rabbit for a moment. The comment, however small, had struck a chord inside him—he just wasn't sure which one.

"Okay," Jamie said after a few seconds, a peppy look returning to her face. "Ready to keep skating?"

"Oh, no," Joseph said, leaning on the rabbit as he still couldn't manage to stand upright. "I think I've had quite enough of this little adventure."

"Joseph, come on!" Jamie said, getting just the tiniest bit frustrated with the fox's stubbornness. "You haven't had fun in like, two years, try to let loose a little!"

The bunny then did something that surprised everyone present, including herself. She grabbed Joseph's right paw in her left, dragged him out onto the ice, and began to sing to him.

" _I can show you the world,_ " the bunny belted out," _shining, shimmering, splendid! Tell me, Joey, now when did you last let your heart decide?_ "

At the moment, said heart couldn't seem to decide whether it wanted to fly through his chest or stop completely. Hearing Jamie's angelic singing voice, coupled with the fact that she had just called him "Joey", had caused the fox's brain to cease all function. He was all but limp as the bunny dragged him around the rink, continuing to sing.

" _I can open your eyes, take you wonder by wonder, over, sideways and under on a magic ice skate ride!_ "

Judy stared at her sister in shock. Was she actually singing the love song from  _Aladdingo_ to a guy she'd known for two weeks?  _Maybe Joseph's not the only one who's got it bad_ , she thought.

" _A whole new world! A new fantastic point of view! No one to tell us no, or where to go, or say we're only dreaming…_ " Jamie stared with delight at the shocked look on Joseph's face as she continued to sing, spinning the both of them in a gentle circle. It was really quite…adorable.

Joseph, meanwhile, was still trying to regain his higher cognitive functions, which, looking back, he thought might explain why he did what he did next.

Joseph had never thought himself to be particularly brave. Sure, he'd come through some incredibly dangerous situations, but he'd mostly gotten out of those thanks to his fight-or-flight instinct. He'd never in his life done anything especially daring. That was what made what he did next either the bravest, or stupidest, thing he'd ever done.

He started to sing along.

" _A whole new world_!" the fox belted out involuntarily, a look of almost childlike joy splitting his face into a smile. " _A dazzling place I never knew! But when I'm way out here, it's crystal clear, that now I'm in a whole new world with you_." The words came naturally, as the film they came from had been one of Joseph's favorites growing up. His heart soared once again when Jamie continued the song without skipping a beat, responding to his line with " _Now I'm in a whole new world!_ "

 _Well, no turning back now_ , Joseph thought as his brain began to work again.  _Might as well go through with it._

" _Unbelievable sights!_ " he sang, now spinning in a steady circle with the rabbit, suddenly having no problem skating. " _Indescribable feeling! Soaring, tumbling, freewheeling through an endless diamond sky! A whole new world…_ "

" _Don't you dare close your eyes_..." Jamie continued.

" _A hundred thousand things to see…_ "

" _Hold your breath, it gets better…_ "

" _I'm like a shooting star, I've come so far, I can't go back to where I used to be_." As Joseph sang that line, he was surprised by how true it was. As he looked into Jamie's sky-blue eyes, and those unwanted feelings once again rose up in his chest, he knew that, in just two short weeks, this bunny had changed him for good. Although it had been Nick and Judy who had made him feel like he belonged, it was Jamie who was now showing him how it felt to be really and truly happy—for the first time in his life.

The pair continued the song to the end of the song, each gradually pulling the other closer to themselves without even knowing it. To Nick and Judy, who stood about ten feet away watching them, it seemed as if the two were completely oblivious to everything around them, completely pulled into their own whole new world.

Nick slowly leaned down to Judy's ear and whispered two words into her ear.

" _Told ya_ ," he said.

The doe responded with a half-hearted shove to Nick's chest, but said nothing, her eyes still fixed on the scene before her as one side of her face lifted up in an involuntary smirk. As Joseph and Jamie finished the song with the line " _For you and me_ ," they stood still on the ice. The two were now almost completely wrapped in each other's arms, their muzzles only inches apart (though Judy thought they'd probably be closer if Jamie hadn't been about half Joseph's height). They were silent, only looking into each other's eyes.

 _Oh, sweet cheese and crackers_ , Judy thought.  _They're gonna kiss._

She really thought they would have, too, if the pair's reverie had not been broken by the sound of slow, sarcastic clapping emanating from Nick's paws.

"Bravo, you two!" the fox said, a coy smirk splitting his face. "So, I'm guessing you'll have an  _Ara-bunny Nights_ -themed honeymoon, right?"

The comment brought Joseph back to reality. Realizing the position that he and Jamie were in, he tried to quickly back away, forgetting that he was balancing on two knives on a sheet of ice. As a result, his feet slid out from under him, knocking Jamie's feet out of the way as well, sending both mammals tumbling to the ground. Joseph landed on his back, his tail pinned underneath him, while Jamie landed on top of the fox, her involuntary grip on the front of his coat causing her to land with her legs straddling his abdomen. The force of the fall propelled her face forward, and her muzzle connected with Joseph's with a tiny smack.

As Joseph lay there on the ice with Jamie on top of him, he could have sworn that he was on the surface of the sun with all the heat that was flooding through him. For a moment, time seemed to stop, and he was frozen in place with the bunny straddling him. As the fox looked up into her amazingly sky-blue eyes and felt the pressure of her paws on his chest as she tried to right herself, he felt a flash of dark fire ignite in his chest, spilling over into his limbs and singeing every nerve ending in his body. He felt suddenly lightheaded as a flood of endorphins cascaded through his brain, causing his heart to pound and his breathing to accelerate as a torrent of thoughts flooded his mind.

The young fox was brought out of his fiery stupor by the sound of Nick roaring with laughter. He had fallen to the ice in a fit of mirth, laughing his tail off at the sight of the two mammals lying prone on the ice. "I guess they don't want to wait for the honeymoon, eh, Carrots?" he choked out through the laughter.

"Nick, shut up," Judy said in a not-so-quiet whisper, and aimed a tiny kick at the fox's ribs, making sure not to hurt him this time.

Across the rink, both Joseph and Jamie were struggling to get up off the ice. Jamie managed to rise in just a few seconds, her cheeks and ears burning so much she thought she might accidentally melt the rink. Joseph, on the other hand, was floundering around on all fours on the ground, desperately trying to right himself as his head buzzed with fire.

Jamie, coming out of her shell of embarrassment, deftly leaned down and helped the fox to his feet.

"Thanks," he mumbled, worried that the fur on his face would soon catch fire from the blush beneath. "S-sorry about that."

"S'fine," Jamie said, avoiding eye contact. "It's all fine."

"Yeah," Joseph said. "Fine."

"Well," Nick said, back on his feet with his purple-eyed bunny holding tight to his arm, "if you two lovebirds are done with your musical, maybe we could continue skating?"

"Sure," the fox and bunny said in unison.

"So, what do you wanna learn next?" Jamie asked, still trying to avoid eye contact.

Joseph had to gulp before he spoke. "Um, how about we just keep it simple?" he said, a frosty breath of laughter escaping his lips. "I don't know how many more falls my tail can handle."

"Sounds good," she said, finally meeting his eyes. She was somewhat surprised to see nervousness and…was that  _excitement_? "Let's go," she said, pulling him back out onto the ice.

As Nick and Judy watched the two skate away once more, Judy heard her boyfriend whistle the beginning of a familiar tune. The song immediately began to play in her head.

_Tale as old as time…_

* * *

Sixty feet in the air, at the top of a massive pine tree several yards away from the rink, a rabbit with ash-grey fur and eyes the color of gunmetal shook his head in disgust.

 _Repulsive_ , the rabbit thought.  _It's not enough that those foxes have the nerve to touch my kind, but they actually LET them? What has this world come to?_

Ivan Karatov was almost always sickened by romantic displays, but to see it between two different species—and between two rabbits and their most hated rivals, at that—made him want to slice those foxes' skins off and make them into rugs. Well, more than he already did on principle, anyway.

"Calm down, Ivan," the rabbit whispered to himself. "You have a job to do." His steely eyes once again scanned the area below him, focusing on the fox that had been singing.  _That can't be him_ , he thought.  _He's a kit. There's no way he could have done that to that marmot._

Despite his doubts, his employer had assured him that this fox, a fox that was constantly with Hopps and Wilde, was the one responsible for the massacre in the alley last week, despite what the ZPD had said. And this was the only fox he'd seen with them.

He decided to notify the boss. He retrieved his phone from the bag at his side, made sure it was silenced, and dialed the boss's number. He answered on the third ring.

"What?" said the voice on the other end.

"It's Karatov," the rabbit said quietly in his thin Russian accent, "I have eyes on the target." His paw reached again into his bag, closing around the handle of the silenced pistol within. "Shall I terminate?"

"No, not yet," came the reply. "If you're certain it's him, wait 'til they leave and then get out of there. I've got a much more…entertaining idea for how to deal with this thing." The rabbit could hear the sneer in his boss's voice.

"May I ask what that is, sir?" said Karatov.

The voice on the other end of the line explained it to him.

A wicked smirk crossed the rabbit assassin's muzzle. " _Otlichno_ ," he whispered in Russian. "Excellent. You truly have the mind of an artist, sir." Karatov was glad that he had finally found an employer with a sense of style. It was a refreshing change of pace from the power-hungry brutes who so often required his services. "When?"

"At the next available opportunity," replied his employer. "Tail them for as long as you have to. At the first chance you get, if all three are close together and out in the open, do it. And try to make sure there are people around. I want it to be a public spectacle."

"Thy will be done," Karatov said, and snapped the phone shut.

Karatov carefully placed the phone back in his bag and stared down at the mammals below. " _Teper'ya stal smert'yu,"_ the murderous lagomorph intoned, " _razrushitelem lis._ "  _Now I am become death, the destroyer of foxes._

The assassin sat back against the trunk of the great pine and smiled to himself. For soon, he would see the blood of Zootopia's greatest heroes flow freely through the streets and down the gutter where it belonged.


	11. Cut Off One Head...

"This is my absolute favorite song, Joseph," Judy said from the passenger seat. She leaned over to the radio to turn up the volume as the familiar Oh oh oh oh oh sounded through the speakers.

"Carrots, do we really have to listen to this again?" Nick moaned from behind the wheel.

"Yes, Nick, we do," Judy responded. "It is an amazing song and I think Joseph should hear it." She twisted the dial to the right just as the voice of Zootopia's biggest pop star rang through the car.

I messed up tonight, I lost another fight

I still mess up but I'll just start again

I keep falling down, I keep on hitting the ground

I'll always get up now to see what's next

"This song got me through some tough times," Judy said. "It's basically my life's anthem."

"I'll say," Nick muttered. "You sing it every day while you're getting dressed."

"Nick, shush," Judy said, her ears reddening slightly as the song continued into the chorus.

I won't give up, no, I won't give in

'Till I reach the end, then I'll start again

I won't leave, I wanna try everything

I wanna try even though I could fail

Judy glanced in the rearview mirror to see how Joseph was reacting to the song. An easy smile played on his lips as his head nodded lightly to the beat. "This is pretty good," he said.

Judy glanced over at her boyfriend, turning her chin up at him in a gesture that said I told you so, just like she had when she met Flash at the DMV.

Look how far you've come, you've filled your heart with love

Baby, you've done enough, take a deep breath

Don't beat yourself up, don't need to run so fast

Sometimes we come last, but we did our best

As the second verse finished, Judy heard a sniffle from the back seat and once again glanced in the mirror. She saw that Joseph's smile had faded and had been replaced with a pensive expression as he stared out the car window. The thought she saw a tear glistening at the corner of his eye. That part always made her a little emotional, too. She could definitely understand how someone in Joseph's position would find such meaning in those few words.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Try everything

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Try everything

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Try everything

Try everything…

As the song ended, Judy could tell that, despite the tears threatening to fall from the young fox's eyes, he had enjoyed the song. She looked over again at her partner, and was surprised to see that his eyes were shining, too.

A huge, sly grin spread across her face. "You like Gazelle, don't you, Nick?"

"Hmm?" he said, glancing at the rabbit. "No, no. Just, um…" he none too discretely wiped at his eyes. "Allergies."

"You don't have allergies, Nick."

"Prove it," the fox said defensively, putting on his conman face.

Judy shook her head in mock exasperation. "You foxes," she said, her eyes flitting again to the rearview mirror. "So emotional."

Nick said nothing as he pulled into the parking lot of Lou's LaGrotto, a privately-owned pizza place in the middle of Sahara Square. The three had discussed where they would eat tonight as they had gotten into the car at the ice rink, and Nick had suggested this place, as neither Judy nor Joseph had ever been there, and they had incredible deep-dish pizza. Nick could already hear his stomach rumbling as the three exited the car and were bathed in the light from the street lamps overhead.

Unbeknownst to them, their conversation in the parking lot had not been as private as they thought. Perched in the trees high above, Ivan Karatov's exceptional rabbit hearing had caught the trio's conversation, and so he knew exactly where they'd be at 6:30 this evening.

Now the rabbit stood in the window of the run-down apartment building across the street from the restaurant, his sniper rifle resting on the windowsill, aimed at the hoodie-clad fox exiting silver sedan.

Oh, this is going to be fun, the rabbit thought as his steely eye peered through the weapon's scope, landing on the hoodie-clad fox exiting the back of the car.

As Joseph extricated himself from Judy's vehicle, his stomach growling at the smell of pizza coming from within the restaurant, he could have sworn that something felt…off. Just not right. The warm,dry night breeze ruffled his fur, but it brought with it a strange sense of malice.

Joseph looked around suspiciously. What is it? he thought. Two years on the run had given Joseph an extraordinary awareness of his environment, and right now he felt like he was being watched. As he gazed up and around himself, the fox thought he saw the tiniest flicker of movement in the highest window of a decrepit apartment building across the street.

"Joseph?" he heard Nick say. Turning around, he saw that his friends were already at the door of the restaurant. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Joseph said, shaking his head as though trying to clear it. "I just—"

Splat.

Joseph lurched forward involuntarily as something that felt oddly like a paintball struck him on the back of the neck. "Ow," he said, rubbing at the spot with his paw. He brought it back into his field of vision and saw that his paw pad was now covered in a sticky, dark-blue substance, which almost immediately sunk into his skin like invisible ink. "What the—"

"Oh, no."

Joseph looked up to see Nick pushing Judy behind him, her paws covering her mouth in shock. "Joseph," Nick said, holding his paws up defensively, "I need you to calmly back away, turn around, and lay down on the ground with your paws above your head."

"What?" Joseph said in shock. "Nick, what are you talking about? What's going—?" The fox's words were cut short as a sudden wave of wooziness rushed over him. His knees buckled beneath him and he fell to the asphalt, just barely managing to stop his descent with his forepaws.

"Nick," he choked out, his vision beginning to blur, "what's happen-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Joseph let loose a shriek of pure agony as what felt like a million blades of fire pierced his skull, crumbling him to the ground. He felt his brain begin to melt, his vision turning the color of blood.

"Carrots," Nick said, not taking his eyes off of the fox writhing before him, "call the ZPD. We need backup. SWAT. Now."

Judy nodded wordlessly, quickly whipping out her phone and dialing 911.

Meanwhile, Joseph lay on the ground, writhing around like a fish out of water. This was far from the worst pain he had felt in his life, but it was different than anything else he had experienced before. It felt like a migraine multiplied a billion times, as though his brain were being pulled apart inside his head.

No, he thought, believing that he was about to change. Please, God, not again. Please don't let me hurt anyone else. Please don't let me hurt them.

That was when-impossible though it seemed-things took a turn for the worse.

Instead of the savage instinct taking over his mind, Joseph began to hear something inside of his head. The sound was vaguely familiar, but he could not for the life of him place it in his memories.

As he continued to writhe in agony, Joseph realized that the sound inside his head wasn't just a sound—it was a commanding voice, speaking words that were familiar and yet alien.

Take a deep breath. Calm your mind. You know what is best. What is best is you comply.

Joseph could no longer think as the words eventually drowned out any of his own thoughts, completely taking over his mind until the voice was the only thing he could perceive. Sparks flew from his paws as he drug his raptor claws along the asphalt, his spine arching upwards in agony and a scream tearing itself from his muzzle as he desperately tried to keep his hold on the world around him.

Back in reality, Nick stood, still as a statue, only able to watch in terror as his friend writhed on the ground. This isn't right, he thought. This isn't Night Howlers. Joseph had been writhing and moaning on the ground, clutching madly at his skull, for almost a full minute now. It had taken half that time for Manchas to go completely savage and begin to pursue Nick and Judy across the Rainforest District.

The voice of his partner interrupted his thoughts, but Nick did not take his eyes off of Joseph.

"SWAT's on the way," Judy said. "Nick, what's wrong with—?" The bunny's question was cut off as the bell attached to the door behind her jingled, a teenage lion with a nose ring poking his head out.

"Hey," the lion said, "what's going on out-?"

"GET BACK INSIDE!" Nick shouted over his shoulder. "We're with the ZPD. We've got a savage animal out here and we need everyone to stay inside until backup arrives. Do you understand?"

The lion said nothing, only quickly nodded his head and retreated back into the restaurant. Judy could hear him yelling at the other customers to stay back.

Nick turned his gaze back to the agonized fox at his feet.

What in the hell… he thought.

High up in the apartment building window, Ivan Karatov muttered a significantly more vulgar phrase in his mother tongue.

"Suka blyat," he swore. "This is not right." Karatov had never personally used the Night Howler serum on another mammal before, but he had watched enough ZNN last year to know exactly what the effects should be. Within thirty seconds, his employer had told him, the victim will have gone completely savage, unable to think or reason or even feel fear. The orders he had been given were to shoot the fox called Joseph Solomon with a Night Howler pellet, make sure he ripped Zootopia's greatest heroes to pieces, and then watch as the SWAT teams showed up and riddled the creature with bullets. Three birds with one stone.

However, nothing was currently going according to plan.

After another full minute of writhing and shouting, the fox finally rolled over onto his belly and lay still on the pavement of the parking lot. Damn it, Karatov thought. He waited a few moments, hoping that the fox would turn around and slaughter its friends, but it did no such thing. It simply lay prostrate on the edge of the street, staying in that position for almost a full minute.

"Fine," Karatov muttered, laying down his rifle and slipping on a pair of leather gloves made from one of his previous targets. "Ya sdelayu eto sam."

I'll do it myself.

He had neglected to bring along any rounds of live ammunition, as he had been certain that the pellets were all he needed. This was no matter, however, as Karatov had been specially trained in paw-to-paw combat, and he was more than confident in his ability to bring down even a creature such as Solomon with only his wit and a knife-and maybe a garrote, if he wanted to keep things interesting.

As the rabbit was about to turn around and head down the stairs to finish the job, the fox finally moved. It slowly rose to its feet with its back to the restaurant, squared its shoulders, and looked straight ahead, staring at nothing. It was only because of Karatov's superior rabbit hearing that he caught the words the fox spoke.

"Happy to comply."

Oh, sweet cheese and crackers with a slice of jalapeno, Judy thought. What in the world is going on here? Seeing Joseph about to go savage, she had been legitimately frightened for the first time since she saw Mr. Manchas do the same. When Joseph had begun to scream and writhe upon the ground, clutching at his head, she had become even more terrified by the unexpected turn of events. Now, as Joseph stood straight as a board with his back to them, she wondered if the ordeal was over.

Slowly, still afraid that her friend might lose it, she made her way out to him. As Nick caught her in his peripheral vision, he whispered frantically to her out of the corner of his mouth. They were both too focused on the scene before them to notice the ashen shape dart across the street, past them and up onto the roof of the pizza place.

"Carrots!" Nick said, trying to drag his partner back towards him. "What are you doing? Get back there!"

"It's okay, Nick," the doe said, not quite sure if she believed it. "I think he's fine."

Before her partner could protest, she called out Joseph's name.

"Joseph?"

She saw his ears twitch at the sound, and he slowly turned around to face them, staring straight into Judy's eyes. His amber eyes, which she had so often seen filled with life and tears, were now drier than the desert and just as dead. "Joseph," Judy repeated, choking up slightly at the look on her friend's face, "are you okay?"

His response stopped her heart cold.

"Who the hell is Joseph?" the fox said, his voice flat, his face expressionless.

Judy barely had time to let out a pained "What?" before a shadow descended upon her and cracked her on the back of the head, knocking her out cold.

"JUDY!" Nick shouted, turning towards the new assailant. He could only briefly register that the dark shape had the ears of a rabbit before the steel ball it had thrown smacked him square between the eyes, dropping the fox to the ground, unconscious.

Ivan Karatov turned away from the fox he hated more than anything in the world, wanting nothing more than to gut him where he lay. However, he had his orders. Should the Night Howler serum for any reason fail, he was to eliminate Joseph Solomon at all costs, but leave the officers alive. His employer wanted to make their deaths especially theatrical, and he would need time to formulate another plan.

Karatov turned toward his prey, his breathing slow and steady beneath the black maximum restraint mask he wore to conceal his identity. He started to tread slowly toward the fox, pulling a curved raptor-claw knife from the pocket of his army jacket.

"I am going to deeply enjoy this, vulpine," the rabbit gloated.

The fox did not respond, only stood there with unblinking eyes staring dead at the rabbit that would be his doom. He narrowed his eyes slightly cocked his head in what almost looked like a curious gesture.

The assassin had heard vivid descriptions of what this thing had done to the would-be child killer in the alley. However, he felt no fear nor trepidation in his mission. He was one of the best-trained assassins in the world, with a kill count matched only by the legendary Jonathan Wique. Even if this fox could rip through the metal door of a police cruiser, he would have to be fast as lightning and have training almost equal to Karatov's own to even stand a chance against him.

The bunny assassin bolted towards his prey and leaped upwards into the air, primed to feel the mongrel's jugular tear beneath his blade.

Instead, as he began the descent of his airborne arc, he felt a paw whip out, grab his wrist, and use his own momentum to throw him to the other side of the street.

His back slammed against the apartment building, knocking all the breath out of his lungs. He rolled onto his side, seeing tiny rabbits prancing around his head. As his vision began to clear, he saw that the fox was now striding towards him without a scratch.

Impossible… Instead of dwelling on his failure, Karatov rose from the ground and once again charged at the fox, this time slashing his knife at the creature's abdomen. However, once again, the blow failed to land, as the fox almost lazily swiped Karatov's paw to the side, sending the curved blade skittering across the asphalt.

Now the rabbit was getting angry. How in the hell was this kit not dead yet? In his anger, Karatov rushed the fox again, trying to punch it in the throat, but his fist was blocked by the reynard's forearm. The bunny tried to aim a kick to the predator's feet, but was blocked once again. Blow after blow he rained down upon the fox, using techniques that he himself had designed, but still not one blow landed successfully upon the fox's russet form. Beginning to lose his breath, Karatov backed away and pulled a long, thick wire from his jacket. He hopped up and onto the fox's shoulders, attempting to garrote the creature. He was foiled again, however, when the fox wedged his paws between his throat and the wire, pulling forcefully downward. With one swift yank, he brought Karatov to the ground, knocking the mask loose from his face. Before the rabbit could rise, a russet foot connected with his chest, shattering his sternum and sending him flying once again into the wall of the apartment building.

Coughing up blood and vainly trying to get to his feet despite the agony in his chest, the rabbit was unable to resist as the fox took him into his arms, wrapping his right arm around the rabbit's throat, grabbing his own left bicep with his right paw, and placing his left on the back of Karatov's head, just between his ears. The assassin recognized the hold the fox had on him as a rear naked chokehold, one that was usually only used by mammals of exceptional strength. Just a few seconds of pressure on his throat would cause the bunny to lose consciousness, while enough pressure on both the throat and the back of his head could be enough to snap his neck. It was then that Ivan Karatov knew.

He was about to die.

He didn't fear death-he'd practically been courting it since he was old enough to aim a rifle. But the thought of an 18-year-old supposedly untrained fox kit being the one to end his life was even more repulsive to him than watching him and Hopps' sister sing earlier. He could not allow this humiliation to be brought upon him. The rabbit viciously began kicking at the fox's groin, so fast that his feet were a blur, but for all the fox's reaction, Karatov might as well have been smothering him with air kisses. His only response to the rabbit's futile attempt at escape was to tighten his grip around the assassin's throat. As the fox's powerful arm choked the breath out of Karatov, he gasped one final sentence.

"What the hell are you?" he asked.

Slowly, almost tenderly, the fox leaned down and ominously whispered the two words that would be the last the rabbit would ever hear.

"Hail Hydra."

Ivan closed his eyes as he felt the bicep under his throat tighten, and the paw press against the back of his skull. There was a loud crack, and Ivan Karatov knew no more.


	12. ...Two More Shall Take Its Place

" _Unnnnnhhhhhh…"_ Judy let out a quiet groan as she slowly began to regain consciousness.  _My head…_

The doe flinched in pain as she attempted to lift her head from the cool asphalt. The back of her skull felt like it had suffered a roundhouse kick from a kangaroo.  _What happened?_ she thought. The last thing she could remember was looking at Joseph's cold amber eyes, and then something had struck her on the back of the head and she had blacked out.

Judy squinted against the pain, finally managing to open her eyes. She saw that she was still lying in the parking lot of Lou's LaGrotto, everything around her as silent, save for a strange shuffling sound that seemed to be coming from across the street. As the blurriness cleared from her vision, she saw her partner lying a few feet to her left, rolled over onto his side.

He wasn't moving.

"NICK!" she shrieked, forgetting the pain, forgetting what had happened, forgetting everything. The only thing she knew was that the love of her life was lying unconscious on the ground, and that she had to help him. She jumped over to him, becoming momentarily airborne, and landed deftly beside him on all fours.

"Nick," she said softly, rolling her boyfriend onto his back. "Nick,  _please,_ talk to me," she said, shaking the fox's shoulders as tears began to flow freely down her cheeks. She spotted the small bloodied circle on his head, and her heart stopped.

"No," she muttered, thinking that the mark was a bullet wound. "Please,  _God, NO!"_ She put her paw on the wound, and as soon as she did, a slight moan issued from Nick's muzzle.

A sob tore itself from Judy's throat as she realized that Nick was alive. Whatever the wound was, it was only skin deep, and almost certainly non-fatal.

"Oh, Nick," the bunny said, pulling her fox's limp form into her arms in a ferocious hug, burying her nose in the crook of his furry neck. She was about to speak to him again when a gruff male voice from across the street caught her attention.

" _What the hell are you?_ "

Judy's head spun around to the source of the sound, and her purple eyes landed on Joseph Solomon's back. She could see a long pair of dark gray rabbit ears peeking out from behind the fox's shoulder.

The pain of her head wound and the shock of everything that had happened in the last few minutes slowed Judy's reaction time drastically and, as such, there was nothing she could do to stop what happened next. She could only watch as Joseph leaned down to the rabbit's head in front of him, her sensitive hearing just barely catching the fox muttering the phrase " _Hail Hydra_ ".

Then, with a flex of his arms, he snapped the rabbit's neck.

"NO!" Judy shouted, but it was too late.

The fox immediately turned toward the shout, the limp body of his kill crumpling to the ground. His eyes, cold as ice, met hers. Without pause, he began a slow but purposeful stride toward her across the deserted street.

With no weapons, no backup, and no way to defend herself, Judy backed herself up against Nick's unconscious form, knowing full well that Joseph could rip her to pieces in a heartbeat.  _No,_ she thought.  _That's not Joseph…_  The person striding towards her with murder in his eyes might have been wearing Joseph's face, but it wasn't him. His amber eyes, usually so full of emotion, were dead, not even having the primal hunger and rage of a savage animal. No, this was not her friend. It was not the Monster.

It was something else.

When Joseph was only a few yards away from Judy, he raised his right paw, his claws extending to an unnatural length, the fur disappearing into the now scaly, pale green skin. The gesture reminded her forcefully of the time when Gideon Grey had attacked her as a child. Another tear slid down her face as she muttered, "Joseph, please d—" Before she could finish the sentence, the fox had reached her and wrapped his clawed paw around her throat in a vice grip. As she grasped at the fox's wrist and desperately tried to take in air through her constricted windpipe, Joseph lifted her by the throat until she was staring down into his cold, unfeeling eyes.

"Who are you?" the fox growled. "What the hell is this place?"

"W-what?" Judy choked out, barely able to breathe. "J-Joseph, it's m-me, J-Judy…"

"Why do you keep calling me that?" he said, giving the rabbit a violent shake before slamming her up against the brick wall of the pizza place. She was now at eye-level with him, and he leaned in until his snout was practically touching hers, his hot breath blowing across her face. "My name is  _Soldier,_  not Joseph. Now tell me what in the hell is going on before I rip you open and feed you your own entrails!"

"HEY!" came a yell from off to Judy's right. Flitting her eyes towards the restaurant, she saw that Nick was shakily getting to his feet. "Joseph, what in the hell are you doing? PUT HER DOWN!"

Joseph barely took notice as Nick began to run towards them, Judy desperately trying to ward him away. He was at their side in two seconds. Then, without moving his cold eyes from Judy's, Joseph swung his left arm out and backhanded Nick across the face, sending her partner flying across the parking lot. The fox she loved more than life itself slammed into a street light with a loud  _clang,_  and fell to the ground in a moaning russet heap.

Tears began to fall freely onto Judy's cheeks as the thing that had once been her friend tightened his grip on her throat. "Please," she gasped, "it's Judy…we're friends—"

"Are you S.H.I.E.L.D.?!" Joseph screamed at her, his lips pulling back from his-razor sharp teeth in a vicious snarl. "Are you with Stark, the Avengers?  _Answer me, dammit!"_

Judy could feel herself beginning to pass out, her throat feeling as though it was being crushed by a compactor. As her vision began to turn black, she tried one last time to get Joseph to remember her. "Joseph," she gasped, "I'm your friend…"

"Fine," the fox growled pitilessly. He pulled her towards him and slowly licked his lips. "I usually only get gruel for my meals. I guess I finally get to see what rabbit tastes like."

The last thing that the bunny saw before her vision went black was the cold emptiness of his eyes, his lips pulling back from his canines in a hungry growl.

Just as Judy went limp in Joseph's paw, there was a sound like a fly buzzing by her ear, and then a softly muffled  _thwack._

Joseph just barely flinched as the tranquilizer dart lodged in his right shoulder. Before he could react, three more had planted themselves in his back, their contents flooding through his veins. His grip on Judy's throat loosened, allowing her to fall from his grasp and suck in a lungful of sweet, cold air. Within two seconds, the fox was unconscious, his body falling straight back onto the asphalt.

As the haze of unconsciousness began to clear from her head, Judy could just barely make out the sound of a booming voice calling out her name. "Hopps!" it called. "Wilde! Sound off!  _Sound off!_ "

The bunny could only respond by coughing violently and raising her paw above her head. In half a moment, the lumbering form of Chief Bogo had appeared above her and lifted her into his arms. "Hopps?" he said to her. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"Nick," she barely managed to choke out. "Help Nick. He's hurt."

"You're both hurt, Hopps," the buffalo said in a surprisingly caring tone as he gently laid her back down on the pavement. "That fox almost killed you.  _Get that bastard in some restraints and a muzzle!_ " he suddenly shouted off to his left, pointing at the motionless form of Joseph. " _And put the best shock collar you've got on him!"_

"Carrots?" came a weak voice from off to Judy's right.

"Nick!" she said, shakily rising to her feet and stumbling towards the fox, who was shambling his way towards her almost as slowly. As soon as they reached each other, Nick swept Judy into his arms, slamming his lips into hers, heedless of everything around them.

After several moments of kissing, the couple finally broke apart, only to find the Chief of Police staring at them tiredly. A blush roared through Judy's cheeks. "Sir—"

"Save it, Hopps," the buffalo said, holding up his hoof. "We'll talk about all of this tomorrow. Right now, the two of you need medical attention."

"Really, sir, we're fine—" Nick began, but was immediately cut off by Bogo.

"No, you're not, Wilde. You took a nasty knock to the head and your partner was almost choked to death."

" _What?!_ " Nick exclaimed, Joseph's strike having momentarily knocked the memory from his brain. "What do you mean, 'almost choked to death'? By who?"

"By him," Bogo said, pointing to the spot where officers McHorn and Rhinowitz were affixing a muzzle and shock collar to Joseph's unconscious form.

Nick felt a sickening mixture of concern and burning rage go through him as he remembered the sight of his friend holding his lover against the wall. "Night Howlers," he muttered. "He got hit with—"

" _Tomorrow,_ Wilde," Bogo rumbled. "You and your partner are injured. Go get yourselves checked out at the ambulance over there and go home, if you can. Come to my office after the briefing tomorrow morning and we can discuss this."

"What's gonna happen to him?" Judy asked, her voice hoarse and crackly. Nick felt a sudden and unquenchable flash of anger at Joseph when he heard it.

"We'll put him in one of the max security cells at the station for now," the Chief responded. "Get him the Night Howler cure if he needs it. Hopefully tomorrow he'll be able to cooperate and explain just what in the ever-loving hell happened here tonight. Dismissed." With that, the cape buffalo stomped away across the street to where Officers Wolford and Fangmeyer were cordoning off the area around the body of the rabbit Joseph had killed, while the fox himself, now fully restrained, was unceremoniously loaded into the back of a SWAT truck, a small army of SWAT officers piling in behind him.

Upon being examined by the EMTs, Nick found that he only had a slight cut on his forehead where he had been struck and knocked out, and showed no signs of a concussion, along with a heavily bruised but unbroken cheek where Joseph had hit him. Judy, however, did not fare so well. The EMT, a snow-white ermine, told her that she had a bruised larynx and a minor concussion.

"Be sure to take plenty of acetaminophen for the headache," she told the rabbit, "and try to talk as little as possible until your throat is all healed up. I recommend eating lots of ice cream," she finished with a wink.

Once the EMT had finished her examination, Nick turned to Judy where they sat on the edge of the ambulance, and took her face in his paws, kissing her softly on the lips.

"I'm going to kill him," Nick said when he pulled away, his voice seething and trembling with a fury she'd never seen in him. "I don't care if he's a kid, I don't care if I lose my job or if I go to prison, I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch for hurting you, and  _I am gonna make him suffer_."

Judy shook her head sadly, a little scared by her partner's words. "No, Nick," she said to him, her throat aching. "It wasn't him. Not really."

"We'll talk about it tomorrow," the fox said, planting a kiss on Judy's forehead. "Right now, we need to get you home and get some rest." He grasped her paw, gingerly leading her away from the ambulance and towards the pizza parlor, where their car was still parked.

Judy could only nod, her throat hurting too much to speak, the only comfort in the chilly night the warmth of Nick's paw in her own.

* * *

_Take a deep breath. Calm your mind. You know what is best…_

The words flitted through Joseph's mind as he slowly awoke from his stupor.  _What is best is you comply..._

As the voice of the memory finished its oration, there was a pause inside Joseph's head.

 _Are you ready to comply?_ the memory-voice said.

 _Happy to comply,_ came the response from Joseph's memory-self.

The fox jerked wide awake from his dream/memory, suddenly terrified. The sudden onslaught of previously buried memories in the dream had filled him with a dread he had not felt since Area 51.

As the weariness slowly cleared from Joseph's eyes, he could see that he was in a dimly lit room with no furniture, only stark metal walls. He was sitting on the floor, his back resting against the corner where two walls met. Raising his dreary eyes, he could barely make out a tall, dark figure standing in the opposite corner.

Joseph tried to move, but found the action impossible. Looking down, he saw that his arms were bound together with some sort of cylindrical metal contraption. His legs were in the same situation.

 _What happened to me?_ The fox thought. Joseph noticed that his face felt slightly constricted. Trying to look down his nose, he saw that something like a cage was enclosing his face. It was a muzzle.

 _Oh,_ Joseph thought. Snippets of memory from the previous night were beginning to come back to him. Something hitting his neck…the fire in his brain…a lifeless form falling from his arms…Judy…

A wave of nausea hit him as the memories came flooding back.  _Judy,_ he thought to himself.  _Oh, dear God, what have I done?_  The last thing he remembered was the feeling of dreariness overcoming him as Judy's limp form fell from his paw.  _No,_ he thought, beginning to panic.  _No, no, no, no, no, no, please, please, PLEASE let her be alive…_

As his heart rate and breathing continued to accelerate with the panic, Joseph suddenly felt a surge of electricity go through his entire body, freezing him in place and igniting his cells with agony. For a fraction of a second he was back in the base, being electrocuted by the scientists to bring out his raptor traits. The pain lasted only a moment, but, when it had passed, Joseph somehow felt even more weary than he had before.

"I would suggest you stay calm," said a voice like a desert wind from the shadows in the opposite corner of the room. The accent sounded vaguely African. "The more agitated you get, the stronger the collar shocks you."

His eyes having finally adjusted to the dim lighting inside what he assumed was his cell, Joseph focused on the dark figure opposite him who had spoken. He could see that the figure was a tall male black panther, his lean but muscular physique encased in a SWAT uniform, a high-powered automatic rifle clasped loosely in his paws. Joseph squinted and just barely made out the name inscribed on the badge pinned to the feline's chest.  _Tichalla_ , it said. Officer Tichalla.

 _Well,_ Joseph thought,  _I suppose I can't dig myself much deeper, can I_?

With that encouraging thought, the fox spoke to the room's only other occupant.

"Judy," Joseph tried to say, but it came out as more of a squeak. His voice was still hoarse from all the screaming he'd done the night before. Joseph cleared his throat and tried again.

"Officer Hopps," he said, his voice now audible, albeit slightly muffled by the muzzle on his face. He tried to be as respectful as possible. "I was with her last night, her and her partner, Nick Wilde. Are they okay? Is she…"

"She'll live," the panther assured him, eliciting a sigh of relief from the fox. "No thanks to you. She'll have a sore throat for a while and will have some trouble speaking for a couple days. Wilde's fine, too."

"Oh, thank God," Joseph muttered, more relieved than he could say, though still feeling sick with guilt. "Thank God…" He raised his head to the feline, deciding to try a diplomatic approach. "We haven't met yet. I'm Joseph."

"I don't care," said the black panther.

"Fair enough," Joseph replied. "Um, where am I?"

"Maximum security cell A," said the officer. "ZPD Precinct One."

"Okay. Um, I need to talk to Nick and—I mean, I need to speak with Officers Wilde and Hopps. Immediately. I—I need to explain—"

"We don't do that here," Officer Tichalla said.

The response elicited a hazy look from Joseph. "Don't...do what here?"

"Take orders from murderers," responded the panther, a sneer on his lips. "Whatever you have to say, you will say it to Chief Bogo. What could you possibly have to say to them that is so important, anyway? You almost killed Hopps."

Joseph winced at the reminder, the images of Judy's violet eyes rolling back into her head flashing through his mind. Another wave of nausea hit him, making him worry that he was going to vomit into the muzzle.

"Please," Joseph begged. "I need to tell them…I need to explain what happened last night."

The panther leaned his head to the side, a slightly curious look entering his dark brown eyes. "Tell me and I will be sure to pass along the information," he said.

"No," Joseph responded immediately. "That is… privileged information that can only be shared with those two and Chief Bogo."

The panther stared into the fox's eyes, unblinking. Had they not been different species, Joseph would have been inclined to believe that Tichalla and Bogo were brothers.

"Fine," the panther said briskly after a minute of silent deliberation. "I'll see what I can do." Finally uncrossing his arms from his chest, he pulled the walkie-talkie from his belt and pressed the button. An aggravated " _What?_ " issued forth from the device.

"This is Tichalla, sir," the feline said. "The fox is awake. He says he wants to speak with you, Hopps, and Wilde."

" _Is he calm and lucid?"_ the buffalo's voice said.

"He appears to be," Tichalla said, his eyes still fixed on the prisoner.

" _All right. Bring him up to I-6. Oh, and don't let him out of the restraints. Do you need help?"_

"No," the panther said. "I can carry him." With that, the black panther slipped the walkie-talkie back onto his belt, crossed the room, and heaved Joseph over his shoulder, restraints and all.

"Oomph!" Joseph said. "Can you at least take the mask off?"

"No."

"Come on," Joseph pleaded. "I promise I won't bite."

"The promise of a fox carries less value to me than a lock of Justin Beaver's fur," the great cat said, an obvious tone of venom in his voice. "Especially one who attempted to choke the life out of a colleague."

 _Ouch,_ Joseph thought, another blade of guilt stabbing through his heart.  _So that's what prejudice feels like._

Five minutes later, Officer Tichalla unceremoniously dumped Joseph into the chair of a starkly lit interrogation room, complete with a stainless-steel table and a one-way mirror on the wall to his left. A moment later, Chief Bogo stalked in, along with officers Rhinowitz and McHorn, both wearing actual steel-plate riot armor and carrying high-powered rifles. Bogo raised his right hoof, in which he held what appeared to be a small remote, and pressed a button on the device.

An irresistible force suddenly pulled Joseph's arms onto the table in front of him, and his legs were locked to the legs of the chair. He was left completely immobilized, his spine straight as a board, able only to move his head.

"High-powered magnetic restraints," Bogo intoned dryly. "Developed by Hammer Tech after the Night Howler Crisis, along with that shock collar you're wearing. I am going to have Officer McHorn remove your muzzle, but the rest of the restraints will remain in place. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Joseph answered.

"Good." The buffalo chief motioned to the rhinoceros on his right, who then proceeded to lean his rifle up against the wall and move to Joseph's side of the table, roughly removing the muzzle from his face.

"Thank you," the fox said. The pachyderm's only reply was a dagger-like stare that suggested the fox would not have any teeth left in his mouth if it was up to him.

The chief of police motioned for the other officers to leave the room. As the three mammals filed out, Bogo sat himself down opposite Joseph, gazing into his eyes. After the door had closed, he waited almost a minute before speaking.

"How much do you remember of what happened last night?" he asked gruffly.

"Everything," Joseph said, his voice breaking. "But it all feels… disconnected. Almost like I was possessed. I remember feeling myself doing things and…wanting to stop… but not being able to." He inhaled sharply as he remembered how easily the rabbit's neck had snapped in his arms, the feeling of Judy's pulse thundering beneath his fingers...the way she had begged him to stop...

"You said you wanted to explain to Wilde and Hopps what happened last night. Do you  _know_ what happened?"

"I think so," Joseph said, the memories flooding back again. He winced at the onslaught of thought. "I'm just not sure  _why_  it happened."

Bogo stared pensively at the fox for a moment, then spoke. "Mr. Solomon, do you know what Night Howlers are?"

"No," Joseph responded with a shake of his head. "I think I've heard Nick and Judy mention them, but I'm not sure what it means."

"'Night Howlers' are the colloquial name given to the plant  _midnicampum holicithias,_  a type of flower that contains an extremely powerful neurotoxin. When consumed, the flowers cause the mammal to go savage and attack everything in sight. Officer Hopps' first case on the force involved a group of prey-supremacists using a serum derived from these flowers to make predators go savage and spread fear and paranoia through the city, and so lead prey to take control. Last night, according to Officer Wilde, you were struck with one of these serum pellets."

Joseph's eyes widened. "Then why didn't I…change? Go savage?"

"I was hoping that you would be able to tell me," Bogo said, unable to hide the weariness in his voice.

At Bogo's comment, the fox's eyes became unfocused, flitting back and forth between objects only he could see. He was thinking.

"Yeah…" he said. "Yeah, I think I know what happened. That neurotoxin from the flowers affects normal mammals, right?"

"Correct," the chief said.

"Well, I'm not normal," Joseph said, earning a snort from Bogo that clearly meant  _"You_   _think?_ ". "The experiments that made me what I am didn't just change my DNA, they changed my brain chemistry. That's probably what made the serum have a different effect on me than on normal mammals."

"And what effect did it have on you, Mr. Solomon?"

Joseph heaved a deep sigh. "If I'm going to explain that, I want Nick and Judy here. They need to know."

" _What_ do they need to know?" Bogo growled. He was not in the mood for cryptic responses.

"That what they saw last night…the things that I did…" Joseph took a deep breath, trying to stave off the nausea of guilt. "It wasn't me. Not really. It was…someone else. A different side of me that I didn't even realize was there until last night."

"What do you mean, 'a different side'?" Bogo questioned. "You mean like an alternate personality?"

"Yes," the fox answered, his eyes fixing themselves on something only he could see: the symbol of a red skull, surrounded by tentacles. "Back where I come from-up until a few years ago, at least-most people, even the ones in the intelligence community, didn't even believe that he existed. But the ones that did...called him the Winter Soldier."


	13. The Winter Soldier

"What do you remember?" Bogo asked, his hooves folded patiently on top of his desk.

Nick breathed deeply before responding, his partner sitting silently beside him on the overlarge chair in the Chief's office. "We got to the restaurant at about 6:30PM," he began. "Right after the three of us got out of the car, we heard Joseph yelp. When we turned around, we saw that he'd been hit with what looked like a Night Howler pellet—I could see the blue residue on his paw. We started to back away and Ju—Officer Hopps called for backup, and then Joseph just…started screaming." Nick pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly. "It wasn't like Manchas or Otterton or any of the other predators that got hit last year. He just…laid on the ground for a minute, screaming and writhing, and then he just stopped. Then he stood up straight, really calm, with his back to us, and just said 'happy to comply'."

"'Happy to comply'?" Bogo repeated. "Do you have any idea what that means?"

"No idea," the fox replied. "Anyway, Officer Hopps attempted to approach Joseph, but when she called out his name, he just turned around and said…"

"He asked, 'Who the hell is Joseph?'" the bunny finished, speaking for the first time since they had entered the room. Even after eating almost half a gallon of blueberry ice cream last night, her throat was still sore and her voice still quiet and scratchy. "It was like he didn't even remember who he was, who we were. Like he was a totally different person."

"What happened next?" the chief asked.

"Someone hit Judy on the back of the head," Nick answered, forgetting to be professional as a flash of anger tore through him at the memory. "It was a rabbit, I think. Male, early to mid-30s, ash-gray fur. He threw something at me and knocked me out." The fox raised his black-furred paw to his forehead, where the point of impact of the rabbit's metal projectile still ached. "That's the last thing I remember before you showed up, Chief."

"Hopps," Bogo said gently, turning to the rabbit, "do you remember anything else?"

The bunny officer nodded, taking a long drink from the thermos full of hot, soothing tea she was holding before she replied. "I came to a few minutes later, I think," she said weakly. "Joseph was on the other side of the street, fighting with the rabbit. He put him in a chokehold and…" Judy paused to run a paw tiredly across her face, the memory causing the back of her head to ache where the assailant had struck her. "He just snapped his neck, like he was a twig. Then he turned around and…" She had to stop again, this time because she could feel tears pressing against the backs of her eyes as she remembered the look on her friend's face as he had stomped towards her. "He came for me," she squeaked out.

Nick placed a gentle paw on the small of his partner's back, just below her Kevlar vest, slowly moving it in slow, comforting circles across her spine. At the same time, Chief Bogo reached across the desk, offering her a box of tissues with the words, "Take it easy, Hopps. Don't exert yourself too much."

"I'm fine, sir," Judy assured him, but still took a tissue from the box and dabbed at her eyes. "Anyway, Joseph came up to me, and…g-grabbed me by the throat and pinned me against the wall. It—it wasn't even  _him._ He was completely different. His voice was…cruel, and commanding, and he had nothing but hate in his eyes. He didn't know who Nick and I were, he...he didn't even seem to know who  _he_  was. He said his name was 'Soldier', not Joseph."

"Did he say anything else to you?" Bogo asked. "Before you lost consciousness?"

"He asked who I was, what this place was. He… _God,_ he threatened to feed me my own guts…" The rabbit felt several tiny pricks through her uniform as Nick's claws involuntarily extended in anger. "He said something about a shield, and someone named Stark, and something called the Avengers. I don't know what he was talking about. I…I tried to talk to him. I hoped I could wake him up, remind him of who I was. It...it didn't work. That's when I blacked out. SWAT showed up right after."

The room was then silent for almost a minute, save for the sound of Nick's laborious breathing as he tried to contain the anger towards the young man he had thought of as his friend. "Please tell me he's going away," Nick said to the chief, his voice trembling with rage. "Better yet, tell me that psychotic monster is going to be put down so he can't hurt anyone ever again."

"Nick!" Judy exclaimed as she turned to her partner, shocked by the coldness in his voice. "Don't say that! He's our friend, it wasn't really him—"

" _He tried to kill you, Judy!_ " the fox shouted suddenly, grabbing his girlfriend by the shoulders. "He put his paw around your neck and almost  _choked the life out of you!_ He's a  _monster,_ an  _animal_ , a cold-blooded  _killer!_ I don't care if he was our friend; we took him into our home and he nearly  _murdered_ you. What if SWAT had gotten there thirty seconds later, huh? What if he gets loose or he gets shot with a Night Howler again and goes on a rampage? Judy, for our sake, for the city's sake,  _for your sake, HE NEEDS TO DIE!_ " The fox let out a heart-wrenching sob and pulled Judy into his arms, beginning to cry freely despite the Chief of Police staring at them from across the desk.

"You're my everything, Judy," Nick whispered to her, gently rocking her back and forth on the chair. "My life would be over without you, baby. You're my entire world. I could never live with myself if something happened to you." He pulled away from her slightly, looking briefly into her eyes and giving her a quick but lingering kiss on the lips, heedless of the expression of shock on Bogo's face. He then placed his nose on top of the bunny's head and weakly muttered, "I love you, Judy Hopps."

"I love you, too, Nick," Judy responded, tears now falling freely from her eyes, "but—" The bunny's statement was suddenly interrupted by the loud squawk of Bogo's walkie-talkie.

Bogo slowly closed his eyes in an expression of  _Lord, give me strength_  as he pulled the walkie-talkie from his belt, internally thankful for the interruption.

"What?" he barked.

" _This is Tichalla, sir_ ," came the reply. " _The fox is awake. He says he wants to speak with you, Hopps, and Wilde._ "

"Is he calm and lucid?" Bogo questioned.

" _He appears to be,_ " said the feline on the other end.

"All right," the cape buffalo responded wearily. "Bring him up to I-6. Oh, and don't let him out of the restraints. Do you need help?"

" _No, I can carry him_." With that, the device gave a small crackle, and the conversation was over.

With a sigh, Bogo slipped the walkie-talkie back onto his belt. "I'll leave it up to you two if you want to come down. The restraints he's in are strong enough to hold a schizophrenic bear on a mixture of cocaine and Night Howlers, so there's no chance he'll get loose."

"I'll go," Nick said immediately. "But Judy's not going anywhere near him."

"Nick, I—" the rabbit began, but was swiftly cut off by the fox.

" _No,_ " he insisted, his voice adamant. "I'm not taking any risks with you. Not with him involved." The bunny's only response was to hang her head dejectedly, knowing that there was no use arguing with him.

"Alright," Bogo said, rising heavily from his seat. "Let's head down, shall we?"

* * *

Nick silently observed Bogo's conversation with Joseph through the one-way mirror for several minutes before he made a move. After the two had been silent for almost a minute, Bogo looked at the mirror and nodded, signaling that Nick could enter.

As soon as Nick had barged through the door, he made a beeline for the fox on the opposite side of the table.

"Nick," Joseph breathed out, unable to move anything but his head due to his restraints. "I—"

His words were swiftly cut off by the scarlet-furred fist that slammed into the side of his face with a force that Nick hadn't even known he was capable of. As soon as he had pulled back his throbbing paw, he felt the hooves of Chief Bogo clamp around his upper arms, dragging him away from the prisoner, who was currently letting a dribble of blood and saliva drip onto the table in front of him. "Wilde, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Bogo shouted.

 _"YOU SON OF A BITCH!"_ Nick roared, desperately trying to free himself from the buffalo's grasp. " _You tried to kill her! You tried to kill the woman I love, the woman who welcomed you into our home! We trusted you, you lying sack of—_ "

"WILDE, THAT'S ENOUGH!" Bogo screamed at him, slamming him up against the wall next to the door and knocking the wind out of him. "You are here to interview a suspect,  _not_ to get vengeance, do you understand me? Believe me, I understand the anger that you're feeling right now, but this is not the time or place to let it out. Now sit down, shut up, and behave like a civil mammal, or so help me, I will have you ejected from this room and have you brought up on charges!"

He released his hold on Nick's shirt collar, allowing the fox to dust himself off. "Fine," he muttered, staring daggers at his chief. "But if he so much as makes a struggle, I'll paint the wall with his brains."

"You know I can't let you do that, Wilde," Bogo said, holding out his hoof. "Give me your gun."

Nick simply stared at the cape buffalo in shock. "You're kidding," he said.

Bogo shook his head solemnly. " _Dura lex sed lex,_ Wilde. 'The law is hard, but it is the law'. And the law says that he is innocent until proven guilty. You'll get it back once we're done."

After a moment of tense silence, Nick removed his pistol from his belt and pressed it into Bogo's hoof, who promptly handed it to an officer through the door. Once the door had been shut, the Chief motioned for Nick to take a seat across from Joseph, which he did. Bogo went around the table, behind Joseph, and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. "Talk," he commanded.

Joseph was silent for a long moment before he raised his bloodshot amber eyes to Nick's emerald ones, the younger fox's dripping with silent tears.

" _I'm so sorry_ ," he choked out, shaking his head in shame. "I am so,  _so_ —"

"I don't want apologies," Nick growled menacingly. "You said you wanted to explain what the hell happened last night. So, explain."

Joseph hung his head, unsure how to begin. "It wasn't my government who abducted and changed me," he decided to say. "It was a terrorist organization called HYDRA that had infiltrated different parts of the government, including the research base at Area 51."

"What does that have to do with last night?" Nick asked.

"I'm getting to that," the kit responded. "A couple of months before I was abducted, back in 2014, HYDRA was exposed to the world and more or less wiped out. A few different cells survived or were never discovered, and went underground. One of the results of HYDRA's exposure was the loss of their greatest weapon, an enhanced super-assassin they called the Winter Soldier. He was one of the first people to get any kind of super-soldier treatment, way back in the 40's, along with Captain America. They were best friends, I think. HYDRA captured him, wiped his mind, and turned him into a weapon. They said he probably got his memory jogged during the fight between S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA, because he completely went off the grid after HYDRA fell. They abducted me because they needed to make a new Winter Soldier if they ever wanted to rise again."

"I'm still not hearing an explanation," Nick said impatiently.

"It's coming," Joseph assured him, his voice deadpan. "The reason I remembered so little of the time I spent in the base was because HYDRA brainwashed me just like they did Barnes, the first Winter Soldier. The used a psychological coercion technique called the Faustus Method. It split my mind in two; me, and then another version of me that was completely subservient to whoever administered the Method. They could use a series of trigger words to turn the new personality on and off at will, like a light switch. So, every time there were missing gaps in my memory, that's where the Winter Soldier took over.

"They trained me—him—for about eight months in the base. Combat, espionage, assassination, government destabilization, the whole nine yards. All implementing the abilities I'd received from the raptor DNA. And the whole time, I had no idea any of it was happening."

"So, what are you saying?" Nick interrupted, having finally calmed down to an extent.

"What I'm saying," Joseph told him slowly, trying to make sure he could understand, "is that the person you saw last night, the person who killed that rabbit, the person who—" The fox paused again, feeling the bile rising in his throat at the memory. "The person who hurt Judy…that wasn't me. Not really. It was him, the Winter Soldier."

Nick nodded, understanding what he was saying, but still furious beyond the telling of it. "So, what happened last night?" he asked. "Why did this Winter Soldier come out? I mean, did one of us accidentally say your trigger words or whatever?"

"No. I think he came out because of that thing I was shot with, the Night Howler. That compound affects normal mammals by making them go mad with rage, but I'm not normal. The experiments changed my brain chemistry. So, instead of making me go savage, I think it broke down the mental blocks that HYDRA put in place inside my head. It undid the conditioning. With the sudden influx of memories, the Winter Soldier personality just took over momentarily."

"So you have split personality disorder," Nick quipped. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"No," Joseph answered, "and I  _had_  split personality disorder. Past-tense. The mental blocks are gone and all the conditioning has been undone. I can remember every single tiny detail, down to the  _second_ , of what happened in that base. The personality that HYDRA created is gone, basically subsumed into my own, but all his skills are fused into my brain. The long-term effect of the Night Howler seems to be assimilating the Soldier's personality into mine, so that it was as if the Soldier and I had been the same person all along. Now, it's just me—Joseph—the guy you know, not the monster that tried to kill Judy. That...that  _thing_  is gone. It's just me now, Nick…your friend."

The elder fox was silent for a moment as he took it all in. "Okay," he said at last. "You've given me your explanation. You were brainwashed, the brainwashed guy came out and tried to murder my partner, my girlfriend, the very  _reason that I draw breath_ , and now that guy's gone, or so you say. So, now what? Huh? You think that we're just gonna let you loose and come back to our house and everything will be just like it was before?"

"No," Joseph responded. "I might be the lowest form of scum ever to curse the earth with my presence, but I'm not stupid. I assume that I'm either going to be put in a maximum-security prison or simply executed. The latter is probably your best option." This comment earned a derisive snort from Nick, who wondered if it was meant to garner sympathy from him.

"I was never trying to make a case for my innocence," Joseph continued. "I just wanted to make sure you understood what happened and why."

"Well, mission accomplished," Nick said, standing up and making his way towards the door. "I'd say it was nice knowing you, kid, but that would be a  _fucking lie_ ," he said without looking back. Just before his paw turned the door handle, Joseph called out to him.

"I know you'll never forgive me," he said, his voice breaking. He almost sounded like a child who was afraid his parents were going to leave him at daycare and never come back. "And…and I don't blame you. I wouldn't forgive me either. I built up your trust, and then I broke it—I'll never be able to make up for that. But…I...Nick, I need you to know…" The kit was beginning to sob now, tears falling freely onto the restraints around his arms. "I need you to know that I never meant for any of this to happen. I would never,  _ever_ do anything to hurt either of you. I know it sounds like a lie, but it's true. You two…you were like family to me."

Unseen by Joseph, Nick closed his eyes, his paw tightening on the door handle. The young fox sobbed loudly again before continuing.

"And now, I've ruined everything, and you two hate me, and…and that's fine, and that's  _right_ , because I deserve it. Because I was a  _horrible_ friend, and I hurt you, and you…" He was crying loudly now, sobs tearing their way out of his throat so that he could barely speak, his tears beginning to pool on the table with the blood and spit dribbling from his mouth. "And you…you can walk away knowing that I was right all along." With one last gasp, the fox stopped crying, and hung his head in shame. " _I really am just a monster._ "

The interrogation room was silent for a moment as Nick stood at the door, perfectly still, his eyes trained on empty air. And then…

_Crack._

That was the sound that Nick's heart made the moment Joseph said those words.  _Oh, God,_ the elder fox thought, every ounce of anger draining out of his body in an instant.  _My God...w_ _hat am I doing?_

It was Judy and the press conference all over again. Even the words that Joseph had said to him were uncannily similar to what Judy had said to him under that bridge.  _I really am just a dumb bunny…I really am just a monster…_  Nick realized suddenly that he was making the exact same mistake with Joseph that he had made with his partner—he'd done something that had hurt Nick deeply, something that had made him feel betrayed after he had put his trust in him. But, just like when Judy had said that predators were biologically predisposed to savagery, Joseph's actions, while terrible, were not really his fault. He hadn't been in control of his own actions, just like Judy had said something hurtful because she was nervous and held biases she didn't even know she'd had. And now, just as he had done to the woman whom he would come to love, Nick was hardening his heart and refusing to forgive his friend because he felt betrayed. Joseph had pulled on Nick's heartstrings, made him trust him, and then had turned around and tried to kill his mate…

 _But that wasn't him,_ said a voice in Nick's head.  _That was someone else, a monster put inside him by even worse monsters. You_ know _Joseph, you've seen his soul. He's just a kid, and you know that he would never do anything to hurt you, or Judy._

Nick hung his head, suddenly flooded with shame over the things he'd said. He couldn't just walk away from Joseph, especially not without forgiving him. The poor kid was broken beyond anything he could've imagined, had had his world ripped apart, and now he was torturing himself for something he had no control over, going so far as saying he deserved to be killed.  _No_. No, Nick could not just walk away. He had to help him.

He had to help his friend.

Nick slowly turned the door handle and opened the door, leaning out into the observation room. His eyes found Judy, who was staring through the one-way mirror at Joseph. She had her paw over her mouth in an expression of shock, and her cheeks were wet with tears. When she saw Nick, she turned toward him slightly, unsure of what to say.

The fox was silent, and merely motioned to her with his head that she should come into the interrogation room. The rabbit immediately left her position and walked through the door, her partner closing it softly behind her. She stopped in front of the table as her eyes met those of the fox who had tried to kill her.

Joseph's face was slack, his cheeks still dripping with tears as a trickle of blood from Nick's punch began to dry on his lower lip. His eyes, though still preserving their soft shade of amber, were bloodshot and empty, as though there was nothing behind them but an infinite void of unending suffering. The moment Judy entered the room, Joseph once again hung his head in shame, an agonized cry ripping itself from his lips as he began to sob loudly once more.

Judy slowly made her way around the table to the crying vulpine, and noticed that Nick made no attempt to stop her. Bogo gave her an incredulous look, but also stayed where he was. The bunny hopped up onto the chair beside Joseph, just catching an " _I'm sorry_ " between his ragged sobs. Slowly, cautiously, she wrapped her arms around Joseph's trembling shoulders, folding him into a hug.

" _That wasn't you_ ," she whispered against his damp orange cheek. His only response was to begin crying even louder. "It's okay, Joseph. I forgive you. It wasn't you. It wasn't you…"

It took several minutes of Judy holding tightly onto Joseph's shoulders and doing her best to comfort him for the reynard's sobs to subside into sniffles. When he was finally all cried out, Judy gave his shoulders one last squeeze and hopped off of the chair, making her way to the other side of the table and sitting on the other chair with Nick. He slowly raised his bloodshot eyes to hers.

It was Nick who spoke. "Joseph," he said softly, "I'm…I'm sorry. For hitting you, for saying those things to you—"

"I deserved it," the fox interrupted loudly. "I deserve worse. I deserve to be crucified and burned alive and drawn and quartered and every other horrific punishment you can think of and then some. I deserve to die and then suffer every torment that Hell has to offer for what I did to you."

"No, you don't, bud," Nick said with a shake of his head. "I was so caught up in my anger that I didn't even want to listen to what you had to say. I just wanted to hate you and be done with it. And for that, I'm...I'm truly sorry." He looked at Bogo, still standing behind Joseph with his arms crossed. "Chief," he said, "do you think you can take those restraints off?"

Both Joseph's and Bogo's eyes widened at the same time. "What?" the buffalo said incredulously. "Five minutes ago, I had to keep you from murdering this kid, and now you want me to let him loose with your partner in the room?"

"I was being irrational, sir," Nick explained. "I let my anger and hatred get the better of me. Given what Joseph has told us, I no longer believe him to be a threat. I believe that he was telling the truth and that he means none of us any harm."

Joseph stared wide-eyed at the man who had threatened to kill him mere minutes ago. "Nick, what are you doing?" he asked hoarsely.

"I'm forgiving you, Joseph," the fox replied. "Judy was right. The person that hurt her last night wasn't you, it was a monster made by...not even by other monsters, by  _demons_. You didn't do anything wrong, but I know that you think you did, and for that reason…I forgive you, Joseph."

" _I don't deserve it_ ," Joseph insisted with a shake of his head. "I don't deserve your forgiveness, or your compassion, or anything. I don't deserve  _you_."

Judy spoke up next, her voice sounding almost back to normal. "It's not about deserve, Joseph," she said. "It's about what you believe." Without taking her eyes off of Joseph's, she deftly reached over and clasped her partner's paw in hers, holding on to it like a lifeline as she brought it up and rested on the table in plain view of Joseph. "And we believe in love."

Joseph, his tearless eyes burning, stared at the mammals who had taken him in when he had nothing, and marveled at the capacity of their hearts. "Why?" he asked them. "I tried to kill you. Why would you—" The fox very nearly choked on the word, unable to believe he was even saying it. "Why would you l-l- _love_  me?"

"Because we know what kind of person you are, Joseph," Nick answered, "and we know that you are good and pure at heart, and that you  _deserve_  to be loved."

The young fox hung his head yet again, bewildered. "I just don't understand," he said.

"Joseph, have you ever seen a movie called  _Lilo & Stitch_?" Judy asked him patiently.

The fox's head snapped up, recognition shining in his eyes. "Yeah," he replied, "it was one of my favorites. Why?"

The bunny smiled sweetly at him, a smile which Joseph could only think must belong to a loving mother. "Do you know what ''ohana' means?" she asked him.

Joseph felt his stomach drop down through his body as he realized what Judy meant. Though he had thought he was dry, he could feel tears once again beginning to leak out of his eyes as he remembered the title characters' most well-known lines. When he finally spoke, his voice was so choked with emotion that he could barely get the words out.

"'Ohana…means…family," the kit stuttered out, barely able to keep himself from bursting into tears again, this time for a very different reason. "Family…means…no one gets left behind—"

"Or forgotten," Judy and Nick finished in unison. It was Nick who continued. "We're not gonna leave you behind, buddy. No matter what. We all make mistakes, but we have to move past them if we ever want to do better. So, we're not going to forget about you, Joseph," he finished with a smile, and reached his right paw across the table to clasp Joseph's. "You're coming home with us."

Just as a sob of pure joy tore itself from Joseph's muzzle, a thundering voice boomed from behind him.

"ALL RIGHT," Chief Bogo said in the most commanding tone he could summon, "that's enough. If I have to listen to one more emotional confession or heartfelt speech today, or, God forbid, see the two of you  _kiss_  again, I'm going to vomit." Although the buffalo's tone was cold, Judy could see that he had just the tiniest hint of moisture at the corners of his eyes. "We have gotten to the truth of what happened last night, at least on our side of things, and, trusting in Wilde and Hopps' judgement, and having ascertained that you are no longer a threat, Mr. Solomon, I am going to remove your shock collar and restraints." The chief promptly clicked the remote in his hoof and released the magnetic restraints around Joseph's arms and legs, the devices falling to the tile floor with a loud clang.

"Also," the chief continued as he none too gently unlocked the shock collar around Joseph's neck, "since Officer Hopps clearly does not wish to press charges against you, and your…other actions last night could be considered an act of public service, you are free to go."

Joseph gratefully rubbed his neck, taking a deep, unrestricted breath. "Thank you," he said to Bogo, "but what do you mean, 'an act of public service'? Are you talking about the rabbit?"

"Yes, I am," the chief responded, slamming the collar and restraints on top of the table. "Security footage from the pizzeria revealed that the rabbit you killed was, in fact, the one who darted you and knocked Wilde and Hopps unconscious. Even if this were not the case, he still attacked you outright, so his death could easily be ruled self-defense."

"But why did he shoot me with a Night Howler?" Joseph asked. "Was he trying to make me go savage?"

"I believe so," said Bogo. "However, I don't think that  _you_  were technically his target. I think he meant to use you as a tool: turn you savage so that you would kill them." He pointed at the fox and bunny on the other side of the table.

"Us?" Nick asked incredulously. "Why would he want to kill us?"

"I don't know that he necessarily  _wanted_  to. He was most likely paid to do it."

"What makes you think that, sir?" Judy asked him.

"Because," Bogo answered, "the rabbit that Mr. Solomon killed last night was Ivan Karatov."

" _Karatov_?!" the bunny exclaimed. "The Russian assassin?"

"Yes, Hopps, that one. The same one who is reported to have assassinated President O'Llama in 2013."

"Wait," Joseph said, suddenly very confused, "you're telling me I killed the guy who killed the  _President?"_

"Among others," Bogo said. "We know for certain that he made an attempt on the life of Pope Luke III in '08."

To that, all the fox said was, "Well...shit."

"In any case," the chief continued, "we now know that someone is targeting my two best officers, but we neither know who nor why. I'll put Bullock and Gordon on the case, but until this gets solved, you two need to keep your muzzles clean and stay out of the public eye as much as possible."

"Understood, sir," Nick said.

"Very good," the buffalo said, turning suddenly on Joseph. "And  _you_ ," he rumbled dangerously, "let me make something absolutely clear to you. If I ever hear of another incident in which you lose control of yourself in any capacity—whether it's the Monster, the Soldier, or so much as your impulsive theft of a candy bar—I will have you locked in the deepest, darkest hole on the planet and have them throw away the hole. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir," Joseph said, nodding respectfully. "I understand perfectly."

"Splendid," the chief said, though his expression was anything but. "You're free to go, then. Hopps, Wilde, you can take the day off to finish your recovery, but I would ask that you arrive an hour before roll call tomorrow so that we can discuss what I saw last night."

A confused look passed over both Nick and Judy's faces. "'What you saw last night', sir?" Judy asked. "I thought we finished that report this morning."

"I'm not talking about that, Hopps," Bogo said. "I was referring to the fact that you and Wilde practically mated in front of me last night after he regained consciousness."

Judy was almost certain that the fur was going to burn off of her face from the blush that roared through her cheeks. "Oh," she said weakly. "That."

"We'll be here bright and early, sir," Nick said, expertly hiding his embarrassment. "No  _problemo_."

"Good," the chief responded. "Now, get out of here, you three. I'm sure you've got some things you'd like to talk about."


	14. 'Ohana

The ride home was unbearably quiet. Once the trio had walked in the front door, Joseph immediately pulled his friends into a hug, saying nothing. After holding them for close to a minute, the fox released them without making eye contact, turned around, and went to his room. They heard the door shut with a deafening click.

Nick heaved a heavy sigh. "He's never going to get over this," he said. "He's going to blame himself for what happened until the day he dies."

"Yeah," Judy said, her voice suddenly hard, "maybe because someone punched him in the face and said terrible things to him."

Nick shut his eyes, his heart heavy. "Carrots—" He moved to lay a paw on her shoulder, but she flinched away from him.

"He is a  _child_ , Nick," she said angrily. "Even if he's old enough to drink, he's still a kid in his head and in his heart. How could you hit him? How could you say those things?"

"I apologized for that, Carrots," Nick insisted. "I told you, I wasn't thinking clearly. I saw you get hurt, and that was all that mattered in the moment. That was all I cared about. I'm not saying it's right, but it's true. I have tunnel vision when it comes to you, Carrots. I always have."

"I know that. And believe me, when I saw Joseph hit you, I wanted to put my fist through his face. But I recognized that  _it wasn't him_."

"And I realize that now, too, Carrots! I'm not trying to defend what I did, I'm just trying to explain it, just like he did."

Judy put her head in her paw tiredly. "I know," she said weakly. "I'm sorry. I know you didn't mean it, and I get why you did it. I just…when we had known him for just  _twelve hours_ , you took him into your arms after he had a night terror and peed the bed, like he was your  _son._ And then, I see you punch him in the face and call him names and threaten him and I—" She stopped, her heart pounding, tears threatening to spill from her eyes again. "I'm being irrational," she stated bluntly. "I'm sorry, Nicky. I'm just…so emotional after everything. I—"

"Shh, Judy, it's okay," Nick crooned, quickly wrapping his bunny in his arms and pressing his lips to her forehead. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything. I'll make things better with Joseph, I promise." He leaned down and kissed Judy slowly and tenderly on the lips, the warmth of her body soothing his aching heart.

"I love you, Nick Wilde," Judy breathed when they finally broke apart.

"I love you more, Judy Hopps," the fox responded, planting a final kiss on her cheek. "Why don't you go lay down, get some rest? I'm gonna try to talk to Joseph."

"Okay," the rabbit said, and tiredly trudged towards her bedroom.

After downing several glasses of water at the kitchen sink, Nick approached Joseph's bedroom and knocked twice on the door. "Joseph?" he called. "It's Nick. Do you mind if I come in?" When he received no response, Nick turned the doorknob and found it unlocked. He turned it and entered the room.

Joseph was lying on his bed, buried under the covers with only his head sticking out. His eyes were wide, fixed on what seemed to be a very fascinating spot on the bare wall.

"Hey," Nick said, gently taking a seat on the bed beside Joseph. He laid a paw on his shoulder. "Are you doing okay?"

A joyless chuckle found its way out of Joseph's mouth. "'Okay'?" he repeated. "No. I'm about as far from 'okay' as you can get." He took a deep, shuddering breath, his entire body trembling beneath the blankets. " _How_  am I supposed to live with myself, Nick?" he asked. "Karatov, the marmot, the HYDRA scientists, I can deal with them on my conscience. They were evil. But what I did to you, what I did to Judy…I did it to two people who have shown me more love than I've ever experienced, two of the purest people I've ever met. How am I supposed to live with that?"

"That wasn't you, Joseph," Nick reminded him. "It was—"

"I know that," the kit interrupted. "I know I didn't have any control over what I was doing, but that doesn't matter, because I have to live the rest of my life knowing that  _these_ paws—" he pushed back the blanket to reveal the appendages in question "—almost choked the life out of…out of the purest, kindest, most inherently good person I've ever met."

Tears were yet again making their way down Joseph's orange-furred cheeks. "I remember  _every single detai_ l, Nick. I remember the feeling of her fur on my paw pads, how her pulse beat against my fingers, the—" Joseph suddenly gasped as if someone had stabbed him in the heart. " _Oh, God, Nick, the look in her eyes…_ " The fox cried out in agony, doubling in on himself and beginning to bawl openly once more. "I am going to see that image every time I close my eyes," he choked out. "You tell me how I'm supposed to live with that, Nick. Please, for the love of God, tell me what to do, because I'm lost. I'm totally lost."

As Joseph lay there, continuing to cry with guilt, Nick had no idea what to do. Comforting Judy was one thing, but comforting another guy? Another fox? Especially  _this_  fox, who had made him feel so much in the past few weeks, whom he had held after having a night terror, who had almost killed his girlfriend, who was now almost beginning to feel like a son to him—

 _Whoa_ , Nick thought, putting on the brakes.  _Where did that come from?_  Yet, even as Nick questioned it, he found that it was true. Joseph Solomon, the young man he had taken into his home, whom he had fed from his table, whom he had comforted in fear, was now undoubtedly a part of Nick Wilde that would be there forever, just like Judy was. And, just as it had with Judy, Nick's heart throbbed as he realized that he truly did love this kit that was sobbing next to him, not with the love of a partner, but with a love he never imagined he would be lucky enough to feel.

The love of a father.

As Nick came to his realization, he didn't even try to hold back the tears that slipped from his eyes, the gentle sobs that shook his shoulders. He merely moved closer to Joseph on the bed, grasping his shoulder even more tightly.

"I know what it's like to feel lost, Joseph," he said, his voice trembling ever so slightly. "To feel like you had the best thing in the world happening to you, and then see it all come crashing down because you messed it up. I know exactly what that's like, because I hurt Judy once, too."

Joseph's sobs suddenly ceased as he looked up at his friend. "What?" he asked him, incredulous.

Nick simply nodded. "Yeah, I did. Not with my paws, though. With my actions. I walked away from her and refused to speak to her because of a tiny mistake she made, and my lack of forgiveness practically sent her into a depression. One day, she came to me, crying, saying things almost exactly like what you said earlier. That she was a horrible friend, that she had hurt me, and that I had a right to hate her.  _I_  hurt  _her_ , and  _I_  made her cry like that. And let me tell you, even with everything we've been through since then, even with all the kisses we've shared, the love that we feel for each other, I can still remember the sound of her crying, and it still stabs me in the heart." The vulpine paused to wipe his cheeks. "I get what you're going through, buddy. I really do. But you have to understand—Judy forgives you, and I forgive you. The only person that isn't forgiving you is yourself. So, the only way you're going to get through this is if you accept our forgiveness, and learn to forgive yourself."

"I don't deserve it," Joseph said staunchly. "I don't deserve anything."

"Like Judy said earlier, buddy: it's not about what you deserve. It's about what you believe." He gently but firmly grabbed Joseph's shoulders, pulling him up so that he was sitting up against the headboard, looking straight into Nick's eyes. "And I believe in love," Nick finished. "Don't you understand that, Joseph?  _I love you._ I love you like a—"

The fox suddenly stopped, the word caught in his throat. After taking a breath, he continued. "Joseph, I know I've only known you for a couple weeks, but you've shown me your soul. You've shown me your heart, and it is pure and kind and full of love and ready to give of itself without counting the cost. And that is why I can say, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you, Joseph Solomon, are  _like a son to me_."

" _No!"_ Joseph burst out. "No, please, don't say that!"

"Why?" Nick asked. "Joseph, for God's sake, why won't you let yourself be loved?"

" _Because everything burns!"_ the kit screamed, clutching at his head as if he had a splitting migraine. "Don't you understand that yet, Nick? Everything I touch  _fucking_   _burns_! Every relationship, every hope that I've ever had has all come crashing down in ashes! That's all my life has ever been is a trail of bones and dust and  _ashes!_ _God,_ every time my dad would come around, he'd make me hope that I would finally be able to have a father in my life, and he'd stick around for a while, and then he'd just leave and wouldn't talk to me for a year. So, please, Nick,  _please—"_ Joseph folded his paws in front of him, literally begging him, "if you really care about me, please don't build up my hope for love, because it'll all come crashing down anyway."

" _No,"_ Nick said adamantly through his tears, leaning his forehead against Joseph's just as his own father had once done. "Me and Judy meant what we said today, okay? You are  _'ohana_. You are our  _family_ , and family means no one gets left behind or forgotten. You got that?" Nick took Joseph's head in his hands, making sure that he was listening. "You understand me, Joseph? My dad died and left me and my mom alone, but, as God is my witness,  _I will not leave you behind!"_

The older fox grabbed the shoulders of the younger and pulled him tightly into an embrace of fatherly love, resting his son's weeping head against his shoulder. "I love you, Joseph," he said to him. "I love you like a son."

For several seconds, the young kit was silent, the only sounds coming from him the gentle, diminishing sobs emanating from his muzzle as he wept into Nick's shoulder. Then, finally, as though he was breathing for the first time in forever, Joseph spoke.

" _I love you, too, Nick_."

Nick squeezed his friend-no, his  _son_ -in an embrace much stronger than he should have, actually fearing he might hurt him. "That's my boy," he muttered tearfully before pressing his lips to Joseph's cheek in a fatherly kiss, his heart filling with a joy he hadn't felt since Judy had pinned that badge on his chest. " _That's my boy_."

After several moments of the newly found father and son holding each other, Nick felt a rumble of laughter emanate through Joseph's chest. "You gonna get in on this, or what?" he chuckled.

"You're damn right, I am," came Judy's voice from the doorway. In half a heartbeat, she had entered the room and come around to face Nick, stretching her arms wide and embracing both foxes as hard as she could. "'Ohana," she whispered to them.

"'Ohana," Nick repeated, and Joseph did the same. And as this little, broken, but still good family truly embraced one another for the first time, tears flowed from both Nick and Judy's eyes as they heard Joseph sing a single, sweet line.

" _When I go the distance, I'll be right where I belong…"_


	15. Of Love and Life

"Sit," Bogo said.

Nick and Judy followed their boss's orders and climbed up onto one of the large seats in front of his desk. The two had been in his office so many times in the last year that they were considering just beginning to share quarters with the chief.

"Now," the buffalo said, "before we begin, I think we should all agree to keep our words civil and our voices at a respectful volume, so that we might avoid yesterday's… _unpleasantness_. Do you two agree?"

"Yes, sir," the pair answered.

"Good," Bogo said. He placed his glasses on his face and opened up the thin file folder on his desk containing the Internal Affairs report on the officers' public display of affection (or PDA, as the report listed it). "Now, to start off, let us first acknowledge the issue at hand. To confirm, the two of you, Officers Wilde and Hopps, are in a romantic relationship with each other?"

"That is correct, sir," Judy said, doing her best to keep the pride out of her voice.

"Alright. And how long have you two been involved together?"

"Four months, two days, eleven hours, and…," Nick checked his watch quickly. "Four minutes, to be exact, sir. Since June 21st at 10:34PM."

Judy turned to face her boyfriend, startled by his nearly eidetic memory of their first date. "You have our relationship clocked down to the minute?" she asked him incredulously.

Nick gave her his characteristic sly-fox grin. "I checked my watch right after I kissed you by the lake," he said. "I wanted to make sure that I would always remember the moment my wish came true."

Judy had to actually count to ten and take three deep breaths in order to avoid throwing herself at the fox and slamming her lips into his.  _Slick, I swear to God,_ she thought,  _one day I'm going to marry the crap out of you._

" _Ahem_ ," the chief said, breaking the two from their moment out of time. The sight of his officers gazing dreamily into each other's eyes was beginning to make him nauseous. "Moving on. So, the two of you, who are not only colleagues, but partners and roommates, have been romantically involved for about four months, and you never saw fit to inform the Chief of Police of said relationship?"

"Meaning no disrespect, sir," Nick said carefully, "but it really isn't any of your business."

The cape buffalo's eyes widened at the fox's audacity, and Nick immediately regretted his rashness. "It actually  _is_  my business, Wilde," the chief said dangerously. "Not only are you two officers under my command, but you are also unofficially the public face of the ZPD thanks to the Night Howler Crisis. Therefore, it is  _very much my business_ when two such important officers engage in a relationship that could quite possibly interfere with their productivity in the line of duty."

The fox and rabbit officers were silent as Bogo took a few deep breaths and leaned back in his chair. "As much as it almost physically pains me to admit it, especially for you, Wilde, you two are the most top-notch officers I've ever had under my command, and I know for a fact that you two are knowledgeable about the rules against romantic fraternization between partners."

"Yes, Chief Bogo, we are keenly aware of that rule—" Judy began in the most respectful tone she could muster, but was swiftly cut off.

"Then you simply chose to ignore that rule, is that it, Hopps?" the buffalo questioned.

"Sir, that really isn't fair," Nick proclaimed defensively. He wouldn't let anyone talk to his girlfriend like that, not even his boss. "We both knew and respected the rule and we understand why it's in place. However, we—I especially—felt that trying to deny our feelings towards each other would cause more problems than it would solve, especially in the line of duty. Trying to fight our feelings would only cause distractions and possibly cause a rift between us, and I believe that that would have been far more detrimental to our service as police officers than actually being together has proven to be."

Bogo crossed his massive arms, a strange glint coming into his eyes as he leaned towards the couple before him. "Listen very closely, Wilde," he said, his usually booming voice eerily quiet, "because it is very unlikely that you will ever hear me say this again: _you're right_."

The vulpine blinked rapidly, sure he had misheard. "I'm sorry, what?" he asked stupidly.

"You are right, Wilde," his boss said through gritted teeth as he once again leaned back in his chair, unfolding his arms. "Please don't make me say it again, I'm afraid it'll give me a nosebleed." The monolithic mammal sighed and ran a tired hoof across his face. "I've seen the way you two work together, as have your fellow officers, and it is truly unlike anything I've ever seen, and that was  _before_  you started dating. According to reports of both your supervisors and fellow officers, your combined productivity has almost _tripled_  in the time you've been together. And the cases you worked on before that were not exactly petty theft."

The fox and bunny stole a hopeful glance at each other, both beginning to think that this might turn out even better than they had hoped. "So," said Judy, "what exactly are you saying, sir?"

"What I'm saying is that disciplining either of you, or, God forbid, separating you based on a rather outdated rule, would not only be exponentially detrimental to the productivity of this department, but would also shatter the morale of the officers and, I daresay, the entire city. You two are quite the celebrities, you know." A genuine smile spread across the buffalo's face. "As such, no disciplinary action will be taken against either of you concerning your actions the other night, save for filling out these statements for IA." The chief handed them the papers from the folder.

"So…we're good?" Nick asked, his face beginning to break into a huge, toothy grin.

"Yes, Wilde, you're good."

Bogo had to quickly clamp his hooves over his ears to avoid going deaf from Judy's squeal of delight. Without thinking, she leapt on top of her partner, wrapped her arms around him, and pulled him into a big, sloppy kiss.

"BUT," Bogo said, doing his best to avert his gaze from the scene before him, " _that_  cannot happen anymore."

At the chief's words, the couple pulled apart with a sound akin to someone pulling a plunger off of a linoleum floor. Both were breathing heavily. "Of course," Judy said, pushing her ears back behind her head, trying to hide their blush. "No problem, sir,"

"Yeah, no problem," Nick said, nervously straightening his tie.

Bogo rolled his eyes. "Good," he said. "There are also some other ground rules. First, there will be no romantic displays of affection of any kind, be it kissing, petting, embracing, or what have you, at any time when either of you are on duty, especially on the grounds of the precinct itself. Got it?"

"Yes," they answered.

"Second, no public displays of affection while the two of you are in uniform, even if you are off duty. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Very good," the chief said. "Now, there is one more matter to discuss: Joseph Solomon."

"What about him, Chief?" Nick asked nervously. He thought everything had been resolved during yesterday's…rather dramatic display.

"We got his lab results back last night," the buffalo said. "As was expected at this point, his story checks out. His basic genetic code is that of the  _Vulpes vulpes,_  but there are other components to his DNA which the doctors can't seem to identify."

"So, what does that mean, sir?" Judy inquired.

"It means that, with scientific validation of his statements and knowledge that he is-more or less-mentally stable, you no longer have to guard him 24/7," Bogo replied. A tender smile spread across his face. "That is, of course, if you still intend to look after him."

"We absolutely do, sir," Nick assured his boss. "He…he really is like family to us."

The chief shook his big horned head incredulously. "Together only four months and you've already got an 18-year-old child," he muttered, eliciting nervous laughs from both of the mammals before him. "Well, since he's legally an adult, you can't actually take legal guardianship of him, but there's nothing stopping you from continuing to care for him. I'll set to work on getting him some proper documentation so that he can officially become a citizen of Zootopia."

"Thank you, sir," Judy said to him beamingly. "I'm sure Joseph will appreciate that very much."

"Irrelevant," the buffalo droned, his eyes fixed on the file folder in front of him. "Though, if I may offer a bit of advice…get that poor kid some therapy." Bogo removed the glasses from his face and tiredly rubbed his eyes. "You both know I'm not the emotional type, but what that kit's been through, especially after the other night…I can't even imagine what's going through that big orange head of his."

"Don't you worry, Chief," Nick responded, touched by Bogo's sudden flare of compassion. "We'll take good care of him."

"Very good," the Chief intoned. "Solomon's a good kid at heart, I think. While he has his…issues, he is quite clearly concerned with the safety of others above himself, primarily you two, and he has been confirmed to be mentally stable. And, with the rather…unique skill sets he clearly possesses, I would strongly suggest that he accompany you on patrol whenever possible until we figure out who is targeting the two of you and why."

Judy nodded in agreement. "Sounds good, sir," she stated.

"Very good," Bogo said. "Dismissed."

"Thank you, sir," Nick said, sliding off the chair.

Just as the pair were about to leave the office, Chief Bogo said, "Oh, and Hopps?"

"Yes, Chief Bogo?" she said, turning around.

The buffalo smiled. "You might want to remove Wilde's gum from your face," he said, pointing to his right cheek.

Judy lifted a paw to her own cheek, only to find, to her horror, that she did in fact have something wet and sticky and smelling of mint lodged in her fur, just at the corner of her mouth. Ears and face burning, she quickly tore the wad of gum from her face and tossed it into the waste bin before turning tail and booking out of the office, her partner giggling maniacally behind her.

* * *

Joseph stood about twenty feet away from the door, leaning against the railing and looking down at the massive main atrium of the ZPD. It really was a cool place, he thought. He was finding that he preferred the architectural design of the animals over the design of humans. It was more naturalistic, organic, not edgy and flamboyant like the Empire State Building or Avengers Tower. Strangely, the more earth-based designs made him feel more at home.

The fox could hear the voices of the three officers coming from Bogo's office, but they were muffled just enough to where he couldn't make out exactly what they were saying. When he heard a squeal that unmistakably belonged to Judy, he almost burst into the office, but, upon hearing no further commotion, deduced that everything must be all right. When the couple exited the office, Joseph walked up to them. He could see the deep red shining through Judy's fur as she blushed, and he wondered what had happened.

"So," Joseph asked, "how'd it go?"

"Good," Nick said, letting out a sigh of relief. "No disciplinary action. He just told us we can't have anymore make-out sessions on duty or in uniform. So, there go my plans for the day."

Judy landed a well-placed smack on Nick's shoulder, harder than she had meant to, given the fox's slight whimper.

"Well, that's good," Joseph said with a chuckle. "I'm glad you guys didn't get in any trouble."

"Also, your test results came back," Judy said. "They found the raptor DNA, so Chief Bogo says we don't have to guard you constantly anymore. You're free to come and go as you please."

"Cool," the fox said nonchalantly. "I've been wanting to get out and see the city some more. The Rainforest District looks awesome. Reminds of this really cool café I went to once as a kid."

As the trio made their way downstairs to go start morning patrol, Joseph decided to ask the question he'd been ruminating on while he waited.

"So, I was wondering," he said. "was all this…meeting stuff with the Chief because you two are partners, or because you're…you know…" Joseph didn't want to say it for fear of offending them.

"Different species?" Judy finished, her blush finally fading.

"Yeah," Joseph said, a sheepish look on his face.

"In this case, it's just because we're partners," Judy explained. "It's an old rule that officers aren't supposed to romantically fraternize with their partners, but it's not very widely practiced anymore. Anyway, I don't think Bogo's the kind of guy who would have that kind of…viewpoint."

"Yeah," Joseph said. "Do you guys, um, get stuff a lot? You know, from other people?"

"What do you mean?" Nick asked.

"You know, do people give you crap about how you shouldn't be in relationship because you're a fox and a rabbit?"

Nick pursed his lips. This wasn't something he really liked to think about, but he'd found himself having to think of it more and more lately.

"Not really," he said. "Until the other day, I think it was just you and Jamie and Nick's mom that knew—I thought Mrs. Wilde was going to hug me to death when we told her. But that's not to say that it won't happen. There are still some animals that don't look too kindly on relationships like ours."

"That sucks," Joseph said. "Well, if anyone tries to give you two any crap, point me to 'em and I'll give them a firm whack upside the head."

"If anyone says anything,  _I'm_ gonna be the one throwing the punches," Judy said. She gave Nick's arm a quick hug. "No one says anything bad about my fox."

Nick had to consciously remind himself of Bogo's warning in order to resist planting a kiss between his bunny's ears.

"What's it like in your world, anyway, Joseph?" Judy said as the three walked through the front doors. "Do animals have mates outside their own species?" No one noticed, but Nick's tail momentarily flicked upward and bristled at the word "mates". It was the first time Judy had used the word to refer to their relationship-that is, outside of the private moments they'd shared following the act itself.

"Oh, no," Joseph said matter-of-factly. "I mean, there's definitely animals who interact civilly with different species, but they don't have romantic relationships. They don't have the cognitive power to experience love. They just have a biological instinct to mate within their own species."

"Huh," Judy said. She had another question, one that she'd been meaning to ask, even though she was pretty sure she knew the answer. "So, Joseph, I was wondering," she said, "what exactly is your opinion of this?"

"Of what?" Joseph said, walking up to the cruiser. He turned around to look at the two.

Judy reached down and grabbed Nick's paw. "Of this," she said.

"Oh," said Joseph. "I don't know, I don't really have an opinion. I mean, you guys are obviously in love, that much is…sickeningly obvious." He said the last part with a sly grin.

"Damn straight," Nick said, squeezing his bunny's paw. Judy was relieved to hear that Joseph had no reservations about their relationship (she didn't really think he would, given how he'd been looking at her sister).

"Honestly, I don't know why anyone would object to a fox and bunny being in love. The only real problem would be…"

Judy's smile fell. "What?" she said.

"Well," Joseph said sheepishly, "you two can't…you know…" He wrung his paws nervously.

"We can't what, Joseph?" Nick said, a defensive edge creeping into his voice.

" _Have kids,_ " the fox said in a whisper, as if he was afraid someone would overhear.

Nick's back suddenly straightened, his pulse quickening. Even though he'd had the whole father-son experience with Joseph yesterday, he hadn't even come close to having this conversation with Judy yet, and he certainly didn't want to have it at Joseph's prompting.

"And why is that?" Judy said, a dangerous calm in her voice.

"Because," Joseph said, raising his eyebrows as if this should be obvious, "you're different species."

A flash of anger tore through Judy's chest. "Did you not just say you had no problem with our relationship?"

"I don't!" said Joseph defensively. "I'm just saying that it's biologically impossible for two different species to breed, and that might, you know, cause problems…" He trailed into awkward silence.

"Since when is it biologically impossible?" Nick asked.

"Um, forever, as far as I know."

"Well," Judy said defensively, "I'm not sure what it's like where you come from, but if Nick and I want to make a baby, then we  _damn well will._ "

Nick's face froze in an expression that was startlingly similar to the one he'd worn when Judy had threatened to bust him for felony tax evasion.

Joseph paused, his muzzle slightly open, his paws raised. "Wait,  _what?_ " he said. "You mean…you two could…"

"If we wanted to, yeah," Nick said, crossing his arms as he came out of his mini-shock at his lover's statement.

Joseph merely stood next to the cruiser with a look of shock on his face. "But…how?" he muttered.

A wry smile flitted its way across Judy's face. "Really, Joseph?" she said. "You tell us about an ancient Norse god knocking aliens out of the sky with a magic hammer, but you're surprised that a fox and a bunny can make a baby?"

"Well, kind of," he said. "I mean…does it happen often?"

"Not really, but it's not unheard of," the rabbit replied. "It's more...difficult, from what I know. I think I read somewhere that for same-species couples, the odds of conceiving are usually around fifteen to twenty-five percent, but for different species, it drops down to about one to five percent. Oh, and the children are  _always_  healthy and perfectly normal," she added as an afterthought.

"Jeez…" Joseph said. "That's…that's incredible." He let out a breath. "What…what would they look like?" he asked, a look of wonder in his eyes. "Your kids?"

Judy's ears began to turn red once more. "It, um, it varies," she said. "I've never actually seen any inter-species children. They…usually hide their parentage, I think."

Joseph cocked his head. "Why?" he asked.

"Well," Judy said, "some mammals don't even like the thought of two different species being in a relationship, let alone having children. The kids would probably get teased, at best."

"And at worst?"

Judy closed her eyes and took a deep breath, pausing before she spoke. "One of the cases that I had to study at the academy was about a 14-year-old hybrid child back in the '80s. She was half tiger, half wolf. It was in small, very traditional town quite a ways away from here. When some of the more radical townspeople found out what she was, they called her an abomination, an affront against nature. They…" The bunny gulped, feeling nauseous at the memory of just reading the story. "They dragged her out into a field and burned her at the stake."

" _Jesus Christ_ ," Joseph exclaimed in horror.

Nick squeezed his partner's paw. He hated studying that case, even more so now that he was in love with Judy. If they ended up getting married, was this really the kind of world they'd want to bring children into?

Joseph was silent as he absorbed the horrifying story, his eyes cast downward, a cold, broken look on his face. It was a moment before he spoke.

"That...that won't happen," he said. "I won't let it. And if anyone tries to say anything against your relationship, I'll beat them into the next century. Because if your love—which, by the way, is the purest that I've ever had the privilege to see-can create life, then anyone who criticizes you doesn't have a leg to stand on."

"You're damn right, they don't," Judy said with a grin, the horror of the story fading from her mind. One last time, just for kicks, she grabbed Nick's tie, pulled him down to her level, and pressed her lips to his, running her paw through the soft red fur on the back of his neck.

Joseph looked away, feeling the heat beneath his fur at the awkwardness. But even with his gaze averted, he still felt the pang that went through his chest. It was a feeling he was becoming increasingly familiar with, every time he saw (or heard) Nick and Judy show affection to each other: longing. He was beginning to realize that he wanted what they had—very, very badly.

"Better hope no one saw that, Carrots," Nick said when the two finally pulled apart.

"They didn't," she said with confidence. "Come on, boys, we've got a patrol to do."


	16. The Storm

The next few days passed without incident. As the Chief had suggested, Joseph continued to accompany Nick and Judy while they were on duty, but was otherwise now free to do as he pleased. In the interim between major assignments, they had been delegated to watching for speeders and occasionally cruising the streets looking for suspicious activity. Today, they would have a break from about two o'clock until dark, as Chief Bogo had heard about a drug deal that was supposed to go down in Savannah Central tonight, and wanted to see if the pair could handle a stake-out.

Joseph sat in the backseat of the cruiser, reading one of his favorite books (or, at least, the animal version of it), here called  _Harry Otter and the Sorcerer's Stone._  The book series had been a favorite of his growing up, and he found it fascinating that the same series existed in an alternate reality. It was rather strange, however, picturing Ron Weasley as an actual red-haired weasel. He found himself wondering how the animals' Patronuses would look.

A buzzing in his pocket startled Joseph out of Harry's first quidditch match. Joseph pulled out the phone that Nick had bought him. It was a simple device, a $30.00 smart phone (or, as Joseph liked to call it, a C-student phone), and the service was supplied by pre-paid cards that needed to be bought monthly. He had a limited number of calls and texts he could make, but, since he had a grand total of three contacts, two of which he was with almost all the time, that wasn't really a problem.

Unlocking the device, Joseph saw that he had received a text from Jamie. His heart quickened a bit when he saw her name. He still wasn't quite used to having friends, let alone having a pretty girl texting him now and then out of the blue—especially one on whom he was developing a significant crush. She'd texted him a few times since the incident in the alley, and had called him Monday evening when she saw the news report about Karatov. Thankfully, Judy had called her sister earlier and explained everything that had happened, including Joseph's quasi-possession by the Winter Soldier and the things he'd done while under his influence. Jamie had been shocked and horrified when Judy told her what Joseph had done, but had calmed down when Judy made it absolutely clear that none of it was Joseph's fault and that he was completely cured of the ailment. Joseph had once again been moved to tears when Jamie had called him, astounded by her understanding and compassion. Before she had ended the call, the bunny had once again assured him that he was a good person, and the last thing he had heard from her was a startlingly tender "Bye, Joey," just as the line disconnected. The use of the more diminutive and childlike version of his name, far from offending him, had caused his heart to feel like it was being squeezed by a boa constrictor.

Back in the present, Joseph set his book down on the seat beside him and opened up Jamie's message.  _Hey,_ it said,  _are you doing anything tonight?_

Joseph's eyes momentarily widened.  _She wants to know if I'm free tonight?_  His mind started racing and he had to make a concentrated effort to calm it down.  _No,_ he typed nervously.  _Why?_  He hit "send" and waited.

The phone buzzed in Joseph's paw as he received Jamie's reply.  _I just downloaded_ Meowana  _onto my laptop and I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my place tonight and watch it. I think you'll really like it!_

The phone nearly slipped from Joseph's grasp.  _WHAT?!_ he shouted in his head.  _Did she really just ask me to come over to her apartment—alone—and watch a movie with her?_  The fox's heart started racing as the fire he'd felt on the ice rink sparked again within his chest. Unbidden, an image popped into his head—he and Jamie, alone in a dark apartment, her seated on his lap with her caramel-and-cream paws wrapped tightly around his neck…

The fox shook the image from his head as if it were poison. He'd been having thoughts like this more and more frequently since he'd skated with Jamie, even having a couple of dreams, and they all had the same effect on him: making him feel as though he needed to take a shower and furiously scrub himself clean.

Joseph took a few deep breaths, and decided he should probably seek out some advice before responding to Jamie's text.

"Uh, guys?" he said.

"Yeah, bud?" Nick said, turning around to face him.

"Uh, Jamie just texted me." He held up the phone.

"Oh, really?" Judy said. "What'd she say?"

Joseph gulped. "She, uh…she wants to know if I want to go to her place tonight to watch a movie with her."

Judy joined Nick in turning to face the back seat. "She did?"

"Yeah," Joseph said. "What should I say?"

"Well, do you want to go?" Nick said.

"Kind of," Joseph said meekly.

"Then say yes," the fox replied. "It's not rocket surgery, buddy." He faced the front again with a chuckle. "What, you've never been on a date before?"

"It's not a date, Nick!" Judy said.

"Carrots, she asked him to come to her apartment at night, alone, to watch a movie with her. All that's missing is a bottle of wine and some smooth jazz."

" _Nick!_ " Judy scolded. "That's my sister you're talking about!"

"No," Joseph suddenly said from the back.

"No what?" asked Judy.

"No, I've never been on a date before," he said. "Tried to take a girl to homecoming when I was 14. It went well until her other date showed up."

"Oh," Nick said, not really knowing how to respond to that. "That sucks."

"Well, I've had bigger things to worry about in the last few years than a high school dance." He drew a deep breath. "So, what should I say? I really,  _really_ don't have a lot of experience talking to girls."

"Well," said Judy, "if you want to go, then you should go."

"Okay," Joseph said nervously.  _Sounds great,_ he typed.  _What time?_  He had to re-type the message twice because of how much nervous energy was flowing through his fingers.

_How's 7?_

_Works for me,_  Joseph replied.  _See you then._

_See ya!_

"So?" Nick asked.

"Her place at seven," Joseph said.

"Nice," Nick said with his sly fox grin. "Now, do I need to give you 'the Talk' before you go over tonight?" He missed the blush that roared through Joseph's cheeks as Judy slammed her fist into his arm.

 _"Nicholas Piberius Wilde!"_  she scolded. "He doesn't need a 'talk' because nothing is going to happen." She suddenly turned and looked Joseph dead in the eye. " _Right?_ "

The vulpine rapidly shook his head. "No, ma'am." He decided not to mention that, having grown up a human, he actually knew next to nothing about a fox's biology-or, for that matter, their mating habits.

Judy smirked at him. "Good," was all she said, and turned back to face the front of the vehicle.

A thought suddenly popped into Nick's mind. "Hey, can you get there on your own? Carrots and I have to patrol again at about 6:00 tonight."

"Yeah, no problem," said Joseph. His phone had a basic GPS on it, so he'd be able to walk to Jamie's apartment pretty easily. He let out a sigh. "No problem at all."

* * *

_Knock knock knock._

Jamie's head snapped up from the tangle of speaker wires she was trying to set up on the desk opposite her bed. She glanced at her alarm clock, which read 6:59.  _Wow, he's here already?_  She thought.  _Most punctual guy I've ever met._  She abandoned the mess of cords for the moment and went to open the door for her guest. She took a quick glance around the tiny room, cluttered with her belongings, and ensured that she hadn't left any unmentionables lying around, as she tended to do. She silently hoped that Joseph wouldn't think she was weird, given the way she'd decorated the miniscule apartment.

Upon opening the door, she was met with a familiar smiling fox in his usual jeans and hoodie, holding two plastic shopping bags that seemed to be filled with snacks.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey, Joseph!" she said cheerily. "Where'd all that come from?"

"Oh, I stopped at the store on the way over," he said. "I thought you might want something to snack on during the movie." He fought to keep the excitement out of his voice as he looked at his friend. She was wearing a deep blue loose-fitting tank top that bared her arms and shoulders, along with a pair of black leggings that Joseph found more than a little distracting. He hadn't really noticed it before, but, even though Judy was several years older than her sister, Jamie was just a bit more… _well-developed_ in certain areas than her sister was-a fact he had been unable to perceive when she had been wearing flannel or a parka. He felt his heart flutter as he quickly scanned his eyes over her, along with an uncomfortable flash of fire that rose up in his chest. He did his best to push the less honorable thoughts from his mind.

"Joseph, you didn't have to do that!" Jamie said, bringing him back to reality.

"Oh, it's no problem," he responded earnestly. "The store was almost halfway between here and Judy's place, anyway."

Jamie backed away from the door to let the fox in. As she did, she looked out the small window above her headboard and saw a distant flash of lighting in the black night sky. A tiny pinch of anxiety twisted her stomach. She tried to ignore it.

"Did you walk here?" she asked.

"Yeah," Joseph said, setting down the snacks on the desk. "I think I got here just in time. Looks like it's gonna storm."

 _Oh, perfect,_ Jamie thought, feeling the twist in her stomach again.  _Not tonight. Please not tonight._

Joseph was about to ask if Jamie needed any help setting up the computer speakers when he noticed his surroundings. His jaw dropped.

It was as though he had stepped into his own bedroom from years ago. Every inch of wall space was occupied with either movie posters, drawings, or medical diagrams, save for the wall to the left of the door, which was dominated by an overflowing bookshelf. Most of the posters were for the animal counterparts of Disney movies he had grown up with (he saw  _Aladdingo, Moolan, Beauty and the Beast,_ and  _Robin Hood_ ), along with posters for  _Harry Otter, The Lord of the Rings,_ and  _The Rabbit._  Above her desk hung posters for  _Criminal Minds_ and  _CSI: Zootopia._ There were also numerous pieces of memorabilia scattered around the room: Harry's wand on a little stand sitting on a wall shelf piled with textbooks, the Key to Erebor on the dresser next to the desk, a small replica of the TARDIS resting on top of the bookshelf, and, on the table next to Jamie's bed, nestled amongst the photos of her family, a glass dome housing what appeared to be a fiber-optic rose that Joseph assumed could only be Beast's enchanted rose.

"Yeah," Jamie said. "So, this is my home. It's…kind of my nerd sanctuary." A nervous laugh escaped her, causing Joseph's heart rate to jump.

Joseph walked silently over to the bookshelf, examining the titles. They were mostly made up of young adult fiction and classic literature, with a medical volume and true crime story scattered here and there.

"This…" he said slowly, "is… amazing."

Jamie started to blush. "Really? You think so?"

"Does Gryffindor always win the House Cup?" he quipped as he ran his paw over a set of black robes hanging off the back of the door. He saw that they were embroidered with a gold-and-gray pattern and had the Hufflepuff crest stitched to the front. "And she's a  _Hufflepuff_. I knew you were cool, but this…" He turned around to see a smile illuminating Jamie's face that nearly knocked him off his feet. "This is just a whole other level of awesome."

Jamie had to pull her ears behind her head to hide the blush that roared through them. No one had ever thought her nerdiness was cool before. "Oh…heh heh…thanks," she stuttered nervously. "Come on," she said, trying to keep from giggling again. "Let's get this movie started."

It took almost five minutes of Jamie and Joseph working together to get the speaker cords untangled enough to plug in to her laptop. By the time the pair had gotten everything set up and the movie playing, rain had started to splatter against the window. Jamie didn't let it show, but she was starting to get nervous. She hoped that the storm would limit itself to just the rain.

As the voice of Gramma Tala, telling the story of the heart of Te Fiti, emanated from the speakers, Joseph couldn't help but examine his current situation. He was currently sitting in a tiny, one-room apartment with a beautiful girl he'd known for less than a month, who happened to be almost as big a nerd as he was. And he was sitting with her on her bed, no less, barely two inches away from her, their backs leaning against the wall. If one of them shifted, he could feel the fur of his arm gently brush against hers, and goose bumps began to pop up along his skin, the fire flashing in his chest yet again.  _Keep it together, man,_ he thought.

It wasn't long before the pair started chowing on the snacks that Joseph had brought. At about twenty minutes into the movie, the fox swallowed the mouthful of chips he was chewing on and took a gulp of carrot soda. It actually wasn't half bad, surprisingly. As another musical number began, Joseph heard a soft voice from beside him.

" _I've been staring at the edge of the water long as I can remember, never really knowing why,_ " Jamie sang with Meowana. Her voice was quiet, almost inaudible, but it was one of the loveliest things Joseph had ever heard. Her lips barely moved as she sang, but her little nose twitched involuntarily at random moments. " _I wish I could be the perfect daughter, but I come back to the water, no matter how hard I try."_

 _Oh. My. God,_ Joseph thought.  _That is the cutest thing I've ever seen._

"Have you seen this before?" he asked her, doing his best to keep the tremor out of his voice.

Jamie broke out of her reverie, suddenly aware that she had been singing. "No, actually," she said, "but I got the soundtrack as soon as it came out, so I kind of know all the lyrics."

Joseph smiled. "Nice. You know, the day I moved in with Nick and Judy, Judy caught me singing a number from  _Hercules_."

"You're kidding," Jamie gaped. "So what did you sing?"

Joseph's ears fell slightly in embarrassment. "'Go the Distance'," he said. "It was always one of my favorites."

"Oh, my gosh," Jamie giggled. "You're totally going to have to give me a performance of that some time."

"Only if you sing this song," Joseph retorted, pointing at the laptop screen. "You have a really good voice."

"Thanks," she said, beginning to blush again. "Most people wouldn't think so."

"Well, I'm not most people," Joseph said with another grin.

 _No, you're not,_  thought the bunny as the fox's smile caused her heart to flutter just a little. He was pretty good-looking, she thought, for a fox. His orange fur reminded her of a warm fire on Christmas Eve back in Bunnyburrow, and the easy smile that played at his lips was one of the sweetest and most innocent she had ever seen. And those  _eyes—_ those deep amber eyes that seemed to lead straight into his soul every time she looked into them. Her tiny heart began to flutter again as she thought about how close together they were, and she found herself stealing a glance at his big floofy tail, resting in the space between them. She felt a sudden urge to reach out and stroke it.

 _Calm down there, bunny,_ she mentally chided herself.  _You can't just touch a fox's—_

_KRA-KOOM._

The massive clap of thunder caused the rabbit to momentarily jump into the air and let out a squeal. She brought her paws up to her mouth, mortified at the sound she had just made.

"You alright?" Joseph asked.

"Yeah," Jamie said nervously. "I'm just…not very fond of thunderstorms."

"Well, hopefully it'll pass before too long," he said. He really hoped that it would, as he didn't feel like walking home in the pouring rain.

Unfortunately, the storm only worsened as the night went on. The lightning and thunder kept getting closer and more frequent, and Jamie's anxiety increased with every flash and boom. Her eyes kept flicking between the laptop screen and the window, and her heart began to pound like a drum. She crossed her arms over her chest in an effort to hide the tiny tremors going through them, and tried her best to focus on the movie.

By the time Meowana and Maui were beginning their last fight with Te Kā, the wind was howling, the thunder and lightning were almost non-stop, and Jamie was visibly shaking. Her eyes were wide, her arms clenched, and she was taking quick, rapid breaths, her chocolate-tipped ears lying flat against the back of her skull. Joseph was starting to get really worried about her.

"Hey," he said, turning his body to face her, the movie suddenly unimportant, "are you okay?" As soon as he said it, he realized that it was a stupid question. Of course she wasn't okay.

Jamie turned and met the fox's eyes, finding genuine concern in them that warmed her heart. "Yeah," she said, quickly nodding. "I mean…no, I just…" She heaved a sigh and put her paw to her forehead in a gesture of exasperation.

"It's okay, Jamie," Joseph said. "You can talk to me."

Jamie figured that she might as well tell him. She didn't think he was very likely to make fun of her for it. "When I was six," she began, pursing her lips nervously, "there was a really bad storm in Bunnyburrow. The worst storm we'd had in years. Roofs got ripped off, trees got struck by lightning. It was bad, really bad. I was lying in bed when the power went out. Then a…" She paused and took a deep breath. Just thinking about it caused her heart to accelerate and her mouth to go dry. She felt her stomach begin to churn at the memory. "A huge tree branch came through my window," she said. "It slashed right across my stomach. If I had been lying on my side, it…it might have killed me." She placed a paw on her abdomen where, beneath the caramel-colored fur, she still bore a scar from where the limb had cut into her like a knife.

Jamie was startled by a sudden pressure on her left paw, and looked down to see it folded softly in Joseph's right. "Hey," he said softly, "it's okay. Nothing's gonna hurt—"

_Zap._

In one instant, the room went pitch-black as the power to the entire building went out, frying the laptop with it. The only illumination came from the lightning outside.

" _Oh, God,"_ Jamie groaned in sudden panic. "Oh, God, please, no…" She wrapped her arms tight around herself and folded her head into her chest, beginning to hyperventilate, just barely squeaking out " _No, no, not again, no…_ ". She was having a panic attack. She'd had them before, every time there was a bad storm like this, but this was the first real one she'd had away from home. She had always had her mother and siblings there to help her before.

For a moment, Joseph could only watch in horror as his friend dissolved into a weeping pile of fluff. The sounds coming from the bunny reminded Joseph of an animal in their death throes—she was taking in tiny, rapid breaths of air, as though she was breathing through a pinhole. But that wasn't the worst part. He couldn't just see the fear in Jamie—he could  _smell_ it. Fear rolled off of the rabbit in waves, the sharp smell of adrenaline assaulting Joseph's nostrils like a poisonous gas.

It was instinct that made him reach out and grab her, instinct to protect the one he cared for. Every ounce of fire he had felt earlier disappeared instantly, doused by the desire to comfort his crying friend. He scooped the weeping rabbit into his arms and held her close to himself, gently leaning her head into his chest.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, Jamie," he said softly, though it was all he could do to keep from shouting the words in his worry. It sounded like she was dying. "I'm right here, I'm right here." He glanced down at the girl in his arms and noticed that her paws were clenched so tightly to her bare arms that she was beginning to break the skin beneath her fur, tiny droplets of blood peeking out from beneath her shiny coat. She was so frightened that she was actually beginning to hurt herself.

 _Oh, God,_ Joseph thought in fright. He quickly tried to pry Jamie's paws away from her arms without hurting her. She was much stronger than she looked, so it took a considerable amount of effort. He had experienced panic attacks many times before, usually as a result of his night terrors, and knew that one instinct during an attack was to hold on to something, anything. It was an unconscious way of seeking out comfort and protection.

"I'm right here, Jamie," he said gently, trying to loosen her arms. "I'm not gonna let anything hurt you, okay? You're gonna be fine." The storm continued to rage and howl as he moved Jamie's arms to his own sides, and, as soon as he let go, they snapped into place around his abdomen, nearly knocking the wind out of him. "There," he said. "I'm right here. Just hang on to me, Jamie. Hold on to me."

A strangled gasp tore itself from Jamie's lips, and her rapid breaths began to mingle with sobs. She buried her face into his chest and squeezed him even harder, her nails digging deep into his shirt. He felt the bunny's nails pierce through fabric and skin alike, and microscopic rivulets of blood began to make their way through the fox's fur.

Joseph wrapped his arms around in his friend, gently rubbing his paws up and down her back, doing his best to make her feel safe. "Talk to me, Jamie," he said, trying to distract her from the storm. If he could break her out of the cocoon fear that was encasing her mind, he could start to calm her down. He desperately searched for something to talk about. "Tell me about home," he said. "What's Bunnyburrow like?"

It was a full minute before Jamie could form a coherent response.

"It's…" she choked out. "It's…big…but small."

"Big but small, huh?" Joseph said. "What do you mean?"

"Lots of…" she sucked in a breath, "space. Lots of bunnies."

"So, it felt small, is that what you mean?" Joseph continued to gently rub Jamie's back with his paws, praying that the action would help calm her. He thought he heard her breaths beginning to slow.

"Yeah," she responded. "Big town…full of…little people."

"Waking up to say  _bonjour_?" Joseph said. He was delighted when the tiniest of laughs escaped from Jamie's lips.

"Exactly," she said. Another sob cut through the air, and Jamie finally raised her eyes to his. They were already red and bloodshot from tears and stress. The sight broke Joseph's heart. "Joseph," she said, more tears cascading down her cheeks, "please don't go. Don't leave me."

"Of course I won't," the fox said. Without even knowing he was doing it, Joseph lifted up his tail and wrapped it protectively around Jamie like a big, furry blanket. "I'll stay as long as you need me to. I will never,  _ever_  leave you, I promise."

Jamie's only response was to once again let her head fall onto Joseph's chest. She felt her heart rate beginning to slow ever so slightly. Usually, it took at least a solid ten minutes for her to even begin to calm down. Somehow, she seemed to find even more comfort in the arms of this sweet, sensitive fox than she had in the arms of her own mother.

Now that Jamie had calmed down a bit, Joseph knew he needed to at least try to get her to sleep. Even in just a few minutes, her body had exerted an enormous amount of energy, and was continuing to do so. She needed rest, otherwise the stress could cause even worse damage to her body. She needed water, too, but Joseph figured that attempting to get up at the moment would be counter-productive.

"Shh," he said, gently and ever so lightly stroking Jamie's ears. He didn't know if this was technically appropriate or if it was too intimate for her, but at this point he was willing to try just about anything to keep her calm. "It's okay, Jamie, I'm right here. I won't let anything hurt you, I promise." He felt her breathing slow just a tiny bit more, and decided that he should try a different method of calming her. So, he started to sing to her. The song was the first he had ever learned, a song that his babysitter had sung to him on the nights when his mother was out at the bars. He had thought that he would never sing this song again.

_Amazing grace, how sweet the sound_

_That saved a wretch like me_

_I once was lost, but now I am found_

_Was blind, but now I see_

As he sang, he gently rocked both himself and the bunny back and forth in a soothing motion, while simultaneously inching their way into a horizontal position on the bed so that they were lying side-by-side.

_'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,_

_And grace my fears relieved;_

_How precious did that grace appear_

_The hour I first believed._

The words of the old hymn continued to issue from Joseph's mouth, and slowly, ever so slowly, Jamie's sobs began to subside. By the end of the song, the bunny's pulse had slowed, and her breathing was almost back to normal.

_When we've been there ten thousand years,_

_Bright shining as the sun,_

_We've no less days to sing God's praise_

_Than when we first begun._

A sigh of contentment escaped Jamie's lips as Joseph's tender voice slowed her racing heart, the deep rumbling emanating from his chest bringing her a comfort unlike any she'd ever felt. " _Stay,_ " she begged him tearfully, even though she knew that he would.

With tears in his eyes and a tremble in his voice, Joseph leaned down and dared to press his nose against Jamie's forehead, barely whispering but a single word:

" _Always._ "


	17. De Profundis

Nick and Judy left for their stakeout at about 5:15. They clocked in at the ZPD, sat for a quick briefing from the Chief, then made their way to 23rd and Acacia. The sun sank below the western skyline as the duo pulled into the parking lot of Ronaldo's, a mechanic's shop in downtown Savannah Central run by a friendly old wombat named Ron. As Judy put the unmarked cruiser in park, Nick took a sip from his massive Snarlbucks latte. The bitter-sweet taste sent a shiver through him. Hopefully the drink would give him the energy he'd need to make it to midnight.

The first hour or so was almost silent. Judy watched out of the windshield for any activity while Nick played on his phone. A little after seven, rain started to fall, and, within half an hour, it had turned into a torrential downpour. Nick scarcely noticed. His eyes were trained on his phone, but his thoughts were 211 miles away, in the little town of Bunnyburrow.

Nick had visited Bunnyburrow exactly once, just after he and Judy had solved the Night Howler case once and for all. Judy insisted that her parents wanted to meet her best friend, and he had been more than a little surprised to see that she was right. The whole visit ended up going much better than Nick had anticipated. Not only were Bonnie and Stu and the rest of Judy's family more than kind to him (an outcome which, despite Judy's assurances, he had thought unlikely), but they were also incredibly thankful towards him.

When the pair had pulled up to Judy's home in the battered and rusty family pickup, Nick had felt more than a little nervous. Not only was he about to meet a massive horde of bunnies, a species with which he had no experience outside of Judy, but he was meeting the parents of his best friend (and-though he had given her no indication of it-the girl with whom he had fallen in love).

Judy's childhood home turned out to be a massive, five-story farmhouse, complete with a white picket fence, a weather vane on the roof, and a huge wraparound porch that encircled the entire building. It was situated on top of a low hill, the carrot fields of the family farm stretching to the north and east, with a small but dense wood dominating the southern and western horizons. The smell of tilled earth and produce was heavy in the air.

Nick had assumed that the houses in Bunnyburrow would be larger, given how many children bunnies tended to have, but the Hopps house was practically a mansion. It had dozens of windows dotting the giant white-slate walls, each complete with a set of gray shutters. On the stairs leading into the structure stood two middle-aged bunnies, one wearing overalls and a baseball cap, the other wearing a faded blue plaid shirt and a pair of weather-worn jeans. Judy's parents.

Judy grinned with excitement as she put the family pickup in park. She turned towards her friend. "You ready?" she asked him, bright and perky as ever.

Nick's carefree smile gave no hint to the nervousness inside. "Locked and loaded, Carrots," he said. Though his usual foxy smirk showed no trace of anxiety, Nick could feel his heart beginning to beat faster and his paws beginning to sweat. He wanted nothing more than to make a good impression on Judy's parents. She was his best friend and the only person, besides his mother, who had ever believed in him, and he wanted to be the fox she believed him to be.

Almost immediately after exiting the truck, Judy made a beeline up the cobblestone path towards her parents. They greeted her with open arms, immediately wrapping her in a big bunny hug.

"Oh, Judy, we are so proud of you!" Nick heard Bonnie say.

"We knew you could do it, Jude!" Stu said. "Never doubted ya for a minute, right Bon?"

"Not even a second," Judy's mom said.

"Thank you, guys," Judy said, giving her parents one final squeeze before pulling back. "But I can't take all the credit. I..." The bunny turned, opening her parents' line of view to the fox slowly making his way up the path. "I couldn't have done it without Nick."

Nick picked up his pace a bit as he felt his cheeks begin to burn. He still wasn't used to praise, let alone from such a sweet, beautiful, little bunny…

 _Slow down there, Slick,_ he thought to himself.  _You're just friends...no matter how much you might want to be more._

The fox walked up to the three bunnies, placing his paws in his pockets in a gesture of nonchalance. His heart continued to pick up speed.

"Mom, Dad," Judy said. "this is my friend and partner, Nick Wilde. He's the one who helped me solve the Night Howler case."

Nick brought his right paw out of his pocket and extended it towards the bunnies, trading in his sly grin for a genuine smile he usually only reserved for Judy.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Hopps," Nick said, his tone light but respectful.

Stu reached out and grasped Nick's paw in a firm but gentle grip. "It's great to meet you too, Nick," he said. Nick searched the bunny's face for any hint of fear or apprehension, but, to his surprise, found none. The only things he saw in Stu's eyes were something that looked like gratitude and—could it be?—respect.

Bonnie took Nick's paw in both of her own once her husband had released it. She looked into his eyes with an expression that sent a pang through Nick's heart. It was the look of a mother's pride, a look which Nick missed very much.

"Oh, Nick," Bonnie said, "you have no idea how grateful we are for what you did for Judy."

A puzzled look crossed Nick's face as Judy's mother released his paw. "Um…what did I do again?" he asked.

"You saved me, Slick," Judy said with a grin. "It was your idea to put the blueberries in the gun instead of the serum. If you hadn't done that…" Her smile fell slightly as they both thought of what would have happened had Bellwether shot Nick with an actual Night Howler.

"Exactly," Bonnie said. "And, not only that, you saved her dream."

"She's right, Nick," Stu said. "Judy's wanted to be a cop since she was little. She just…wasn't the same after she resigned. I don't think I saw her smile once while she was here."

Another pang made its way through Nick's heart, this one worse than the last. It caused him almost physical pain to think that his harsh words after the press conference had caused Judy to basically slip into a depression.

"But look at her now!" Stu exclaimed, gesturing towards his daughter. Her ears were straight up in the air, a huge smile on her face, her violet eyes full of hope and joy as she met Nick's gaze. "She's a cop again, just like she always wanted!"

"And look at that smile!" Bonnie said, reaching over and pinching Judy's cheek. The bunny swatted at her mother's paw playfully, a giggle escaping her lips. "That smile's because of you, Nick," Bonnie said. She pulled her daughter into a side-hug, her husband leaning in to embrace them from the other side. "You saved her, Nick. And that's something we'll never be able to properly thank you for."

 _Her smile is all the thanks I'll ever need,_  Nick thought. He decided not to say it out loud, as it was just a bit too romantic. Instead, he said something that was equally true and heartfelt.

"Believe me, Mrs. Hopps," Nick said softly, looking directly into Judy's eyes, "Judy saved me."

The bunny's nose twitched ever so slightly, her eyes beginning to shine. "Get in here, Slick," Judy said, gesturing him over with her chin, "before you start to make me cry."

Judy's parents immediately grabbed a hold of Nick's shoulders and pulled him into a group hug. As Nick breathed in the lavender scent that was his best friend, he knew that, so long as Judy looked at him like she just had, he would be the happiest fox in the world.

_KRA-KOOM!_

The massive clap of thunder broke Nick from his memory. He glanced over at his partner, whose amethyst eyes were fixed intently on the windshield, watching through the rain for any suspicious activity.

"Anything yet, Carrots?" Nick asked.

"Nothing yet," Judy responded, "although it's a bit hard to tell when you can't even see five feet in front of the car." She was tempted to flick on the windshield wipers but knew that would only make their presence more obvious if a deal was going down here. She let out a frustrated groan as she leaned back in the driver's seat.

There was silence again as Nick sat, his thoughts swirling in his head. After a few minutes, he decided that he might as well voice the thoughts now, when they were finally alone.

"Judy," he said, "can we talk?"

The bunny's head whipped around, startled by the use of her name. Nick only said that when he had something important to say. "Sure," Judy said, turning her body to face her boyfriend. "What is it?"

Nick let out a sigh, unsure of how to begin. "I love you, you know that, right?"

"Do I know that?" Judy said with a grin. "Yes, yes I do. And I love you too, Nick."

Nick smiled, never tiring of hearing those three glorious words. "And you know nothing will ever change that?"

"Of course," Judy said, wondering where Nick was going with this.

The fox thought for a moment, then continued. "Okay, so…with all the stuff that's happened lately-all the stuff with Joseph, Bogo learning about us-it just got me thinking that…maybe it's about time we tell your parents about us."

Judy leaned back in her seat, sighing. "I know," she said, bringing a paw to her forehead. "I just…really don't want to."

"Why not?" Nick asked, an injured tone in his voice.

"Because, you're the first guy I've ever dated and it's going to be awkward as hell and it's just really not a conversation I feel like having. I don't even know how they're going to react! I mean, they're pretty conservative, like everyone in Bunnyburrow is, so who knows how they'd feel about a bunny dating a fox—"

"Judy, are you ashamed of me?" Nick said suddenly.

Judy stopped mid-sentence, her mouth hanging open and her paw in the air. "What?" she said. "Nick, no! Of course I'm not ashamed of you, I'm in love with you!"

'Then why don't you want your parents to know?" he asked, his eyes downcast.

"Because," Judy said, "I…I'm afraid of what they'll say." Her ears fell behind her head in an expression of defeat. "I don't know how they'll feel about us. They might be okay with it, or they might think something is…wrong with our relationship."

"So, you're worried that your parents will be disappointed in you if they find out you're in love with a fox?" Nick said, crossing his arms as a hard expression crossed his face.

"No," Judy said. She gently laid a paw on her boyfriend's arm. "Nicky…" she said, using the nickname she only said when she wanted to be especially tender with him, "I don't give an elephant's tail what my parents think or say about me. I just care what they say about  _you._ "

Nick looked down into his partner's eyes. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Nick, every time I think about telling my folks about us, I imagine a worst-case scenario. I'm scared that they'll say horrible things to you. You've had people saying awful things to you your whole life…including me." She hung her head as she remembered the press conference. "I don't want you to ever have to experience that again, least of all from my parents. Whether they start planning our wedding or try to burn me as a witch when we tell them, it doesn't make any difference to me—I'll follow you to the ends of the earth either way. I just...Nick, I never want to see you hurt again." She buried her head in his chest, nuzzling him softly as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Oh, Carrots," Nick sighed, gently stroking her ears back, "you don't have to worry about me. I can take whatever they throw at me."

"I might believe that if I didn't know what a good conman you are."

Nick chuckled, causing Judy's head to rise from his chest. He gently grasped her chin in his paw, turning her amethyst eyes to his emerald ones. "Judy, do you love me?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered. "Nick, I love you more than I thought I could love anyone or anything in this world."

Nick pressed his snout to his lover's forehead, whispering softly to her. "As long as that's true," he said, "I don't care what anyone else says about me. You are all I will ever want or need in this world." Despite Bogo's warning, Nick couldn't resist planting a gentle, lingering kiss on Judy's lips.

After their lips parted, Judy sat for a moment in her fox's embrace before speaking. "So," she asked, "when do you think we should tell them?"

"I don't know," Nick said. "I kinda feel like we should do it in person."

"Definitely," Judy agreed. "Can you imagine that awkward phone call?"

"It wouldn't be  _that_  awkward, Carrots," Nick said.

"No?" Judy responded. She extended her right pinky and thumb, bringing the paw up to her head in a mock phone call. "Hey, mom and dad, remember Nick, the fox who saved my life? Well, we've been dating since June and now we're totally in love with each other and we also pretty much adopted a mutant-hybrid super-assassin, who happens to also be a fox. And another thing, your other daughter has been making mooney eyes at said mutant-hybrid super-assassin and he's even more smitten than she is. Gotta go, bye!" Judy lowered her paw, giving Nick and expression of  _See what I mean?_

Nick grinned. "Point taken," he said. "But I get the sense that your folks aren't exactly the kind of people who would come all the way to Zootopia for a random visit, so we'd probably have to go to Bunnyburrow."

"Yeah," Judy said. "So, when?"

Nick thought for a moment. "How about Thanksgiving?" he thought. "It'll give us plenty of time to prepare, and they'll almost certainly invite us, right?"

"Yeah," Judy said, "but do you really want to wait that long?"

Nick sighed. "Not really," he said, "but we don't know how long this Karatov investigation will take, so Thanksgiving might be the first chance we get."

"You're right," Judy said, sliding back over to her seat. She glanced back at Nick. "So, Thanksgiving?"

"Thanksgiving," Nick said. "Probably best if we do it after dinner, so if they have a…not-so-pleasant reaction, we still get to eat."

Judy chuckled. "You would think of that, Slick."

"What can I tell you, Carrots? I'm a hungry, hungry hippo."

Judy shook her head, grinning at her partner. "Sometimes you disgust me, Wilde," she said playfully.

"You know you love me," Nick said as he leaned over, his sly grin once again spreading across his face.

"Do I know that?" Judy asked as she guided her muzzle towards Nick's, gently grasping his tie. "Yes, yes I do."

Just before their lips met, Nick muttered, "Rules, Carrots."

"All's fair in love and war," she whispered to him, rebelliously laying her paw on his knee and proceeding to gently run it up his thigh.

Nick placed his paw on the back of Judy's head, his tail bristling, pressing their foreheads together. There was the tiniest growl of primal hunger in his voice as he spoke. "I love you, sly bunny," he purred.

"I love you more, dumb fox," she deviously muttered back, pressing her lips against his.

_EEEEEK._

The kiss lasted barely a fraction of a second before the sound of the transponder broke the pair apart.  _Oh, no,_ Judy thought.  _He didn't put cameras in here, did he?_

 _"Dispatch to Wilde-Hopps, dispatch to Wilde-Hopps, come in!"_ The voice of Clawhauser blared from the device.

Nick and Judy glanced at each other. "He did not," Nick said.

Judy quickly picked up the speaker and pressed the button. "Hopps to dispatch, I read you," she said. "Clawhauser, please tell me you didn't just refer to my partner and I by a ship name?"

" _Sorry, Judy, it's just quicker than saying 'Hopps and Wilde'. Plus, it's WAY cuter!"_ Judy's shoulders tensed up as Clawhauser said the dreaded c-word. " _By the way, I am SOOO happy for you guys! I just KNEW it was gonna happen! I—"_

"Clawhauser, do you have something to say to us, or not?" Judy said.  _That cheetah needs to be on meds or something,_ she thought.

" _Oh, oh, yeah, right!"_ the cheetah said through the transponder. " _911 from 250 52_ _nd_ _Street. A woman called and said she saw what looked like a mugging taking place outside her apartment complex. You two are the only unit we have in a 25-block radius, unless McHorn is cruising through that area right now."_

"250 52nd Street, got it. En route, Clawhauser. Over and out." The bunny hung the transponder back on the ceiling, started the cruiser, and began to pull out of the parking lot.

"We need to have an intervention with him about his sugar addiction," Nick said as he flicked on the lights and sirens.

The pair were almost halfway to their destination when the transponder screeched again. This time, however, the voice was that of Officer McHorn.

" _Calling all units in the area,"_ the rhino grumbled anxiously, " _report to 250 52_ _nd_ _Street Savannah Central. Attempted mammalicide, victim fatally injured, suspect appears to be a bison, fleeing on foot. All units, report in NOW!"_

Nick grabbed the transponder. "McHorn, this is Wilde and Hopps. We're en route, ETA two minutes."

 _"Get here fast, Wilde,"_ McHorn said.  _"This guy's getting away, and…she doesn't look too good."_

 _Oh, God,_ was all Judy could think as she pushed the speedometer past 100, narrowly avoiding cars and mammals that she could barely see through the downpour.

The cruiser nearly tipped onto its side as the couple screeched to a halt in front of the apartment complex. As Nick and Judy leapt out of the vehicle, becoming instantly drenched, another cruiser pulled up at the other end of the street. Before the car had even fully stopped, Officers Wolford and Fangmeyer jumped out.

"McHorn!" the tiger shouted. "What do you need?!"

"Wolford, Fangmeyer, come with me!" the rhino roared, pointing to the pair. "Hopps, Wilde, you stay with the victim!" He immediately bounded down the street, yelling behind him, "Come on! He can't have gone too far!"

As the three officers ran off into the stormy night, Judy's eyes were drawn to the circle of light beneath a street lamp where McHorn had been standing, and to the blood-soaked figure lying on the ground.

Despite the horror that coursed through her body, Judy did not hesitate. She ran straight towards the figure, sliding to a stop on her knees in a growing pool of rainwater and blood.

The victim was a female leopard, mid-20's by the look of her. Judy placed her paw on the leopard's neck to check for a pulse, and immediately pulled back, her paw coated in red. Blood was pumping from the long slash in the leopard's neck and onto the ground beside her, mixing with the rain. As Judy looked into the poor woman's eyes, her heart stopped.

She knew her.

They had met only once, during the Night Howler Crisis, when Judy had visited a peace rally outside the police station held by Gazelle. The leopard, whose name Judy remembered as Myrcella, had stood at the front of the crowd of predators as a pig had shouted at her to go back to the forest. "I'm from the Savannah!" Myrcella had shouted back.

Now, as Myrcella lay dying, Judy saw fear in her amber eyes as they met Judy's purple ones. The leopard attempted to lift her head and speak, but only a soft gurgle came out, along with a bubble of blood and spittle.

"Shh," Judy said, fighting to keep the fear out of her voice. "It's okay. I'm Judy Hopps from the ZPD. You're gonna be fine." Placing her paws over the massive slash across Myrcella's throat in an attempt to slow the bleeding, Judy knew that it was a lie. The leopard's white blouse was soaked through with red, not even the pouring rain washing it away. Judy could only hold the leopard's paw as she began to choke on her own blood.

"Nick," Judy said, "your shirt."

"What?" Nick asked.

"Take off your shirt and try to stop the bleeding!" Judy yelled.

Nick immediately tore off the shirt, buttons bursting everywhere, revealing the Kevlar vest he wore beneath. He wadded up the fabric and pressed it to Myrcella's throat, wincing as she flinched at the pain.

Judy kept one paw pressed against the shirt with Nick's, and the other wrapped tightly in Myrcella's. "Shh," she cooed. "Your name's Myrcella, right?"  
The leopard gave the tiniest nod.

"We've met before," Judy said, tears beginning to stream down her face. "At the Voice for Peace rally last year. Remember?" Judy could see in her eyes that she did. There was another gurgle, and Myrcella began to speak in a raspy voice.

"Please…" she croaked. "Tell…Tristan…" She coughed, and a spray of blood struck Judy in the face. It was all she could do to not reel back.

"Tell…Tristan…" Myrcella continued, "I…love him. Tell him…he made…life…worth it."

Judy nodded, trying to summon a smile. She didn't know who Tristan was, but she would make sure she'd find him and give him Myrcella's message. "Of course," Judy said. "Of course I'll tell him that."

"Thank…you…" Myrcella croaked. She leaned her head back, staring up into the sky. The rain began to fall even harder, as if Heaven itself were weeping at the scene, angels pouring their tears upon the dying girl.

Myrcella's eyes suddenly widened in what looked like amazement, and a smile graced her lips. " _Papa…"_ she muttered. Then, with one final cough, Myrcella died.

Judy hung her head as she felt the leopard's heart stop. A moment later, the pressure of Nick's paws on hers was removed. She raised her eyes to her partner, and watched almost numbly as he stretched out his paw and closed Myrcella's eyes.

" _Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine,_ " the fox said, almost too quietly for Judy to hear, " _et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen._ " Once he had finished his oration, Nick proceeded to take his blood-stained right paw and slowly trace the sign of the cross over himself, finally bringing his paw to rest on the forehead of the dead girl on the ground.

Although the two knelt in silence for less than a minute before the ambulances and other officers arrived, it seemed to them like an eternity. Sergeant Calhoun, a lioness, was the first officer to appear. In the five seconds it took for her to get from her cruiser to where Nick and Judy knelt with Myrcella's body, her uniform was soaked through.

"Hopps, Wilde," Calhoun said in her slightly nasal voice, "are you two okay?"

Both officers silently nodded their heads.

Calhoun glanced at the leopard on the ground, knowing the answer to her question before she asked it. "Is she…?"

"She's gone," Judy croaked, her voice cracking. Up to this point, she had been crying silently, but saying out loud that this mammal in front of her was dead was too much for her. She broke down sobbing.

Nick immediately rose and walked around to his partner, gently lifting her from the ground. "Come on, Judy," he said quietly. Even though he knew he wasn't supposed to, he wrapped the bunny in a tight embrace. He suddenly realized how cold the rain was. He needed to get Judy inside before she got sick.

Calhoun seemed to read his mind. "You go on ahead, Wilde," she said. "Go get cleaned up and then you can make your report at the Precinct. I'll call Bogo and tell him."

"Thanks, Sarge," Nick said. He slowly unwrapped his arms from around Judy, guiding her back to the cruiser. In truth, he was having a hard time keeping it together himself. There were few things in the world he hated more than seeing Judy cry. He had a feeling that, given what she'd just seen, he'd be seeing it a lot in the coming days.

Nick led the bunny to the passenger side of the cruiser, knowing she was in no condition to drive. When he had hopped into the driver's seat, he allowed himself a moment to lean his head against the steering wheel. After a minute, he raised his head, and saw that Judy had stopped crying, now only lightly sniffling. He reached out and grasped her paw. "I love you," he said, knowing that it was all he could really say.

"I love you, too," Judy responded. As Nick put the cruiser into gear and began to pull away, Judy spoke again, her voice barely audible.

"What was that?" she asked. "That you said back there?"

Nick kept his eyes forward, desperately trying to make out the road through the pouring rain. "A prayer," he said, his voice flat. "It was in Latin. 'Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace.' You're supposed to say it when someone—" He stopped, finding himself unable to say the words. "My mom made me memorize it after…after my dad died."

"I didn't know you were Catholic."

"I don't think I really am, Carrots," the fox responded. "Haven't set foot in a church since I was a little kid." He reached out and grabbed his partner's paw, giving it a squeeze. " _This_ is all I need to believe in."

"Then why'd you say it?" Judy asked. "If you don't believe it?"

Nick only shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "I guess it just felt right."

The pair was silent for the remainder of their journey back to the station, with the only sound being the rain splattering on the car and the roar of thunder, as though heaven itself was crying out in anguish.


	18. The Calm

The following morning dawned bright and sunny, a far-cry from the night that had preceded it. Joseph awoke when a beam of sunlight stabbed him through his closed eyelids. He blinked several times to get the sleep out of his eyes, and then examined his surroundings, momentarily wondering where he was. Then, feeling a slight, warm rumble in his arms, he remembered.

Joseph glanced down to see the sleeping form of Jamie Hopps nuzzled up against his chest, her arms curled into herself, her nose twitching adorably in her sleep. The pair were laying on her bed, cozily wrapped up in a knitted comforter. He could feel the heat radiating from her body into his own fur. Taking a deep breath, Joseph inhaled the sweet smell that was Jamie, roses and earth and strawberry shampoo. Wrapping his arms tightly around the bunny, Joseph leaned so that his muzzle just slightly touched the top of Jamie's head. He wondered why he felt so unusually rested this morning, and then he realized—this was the first night in almost three years that he hadn't had a single nightmare. He gently rubbed his nose against the fur of Jamie's head, feeling more at peace then he ever had before.

Then, another smell assaulted his nostrils, one he was all too familiar with: the coppery, metallic scent of dried blood. He glanced down at Jamie's bare arms, and remembered why he had stayed the night in the first place. On the sides of Jamie's upper arms, there were four tiny pockmarks where her nails had pierced the skin during her panic attack the night before. Tiny flakes of dried blood matted the fur around the wounds.

"Oh, Jamie," Joseph muttered sadly. He began to try to extricate himself from the blanket without waking the bunny up. He needed to find something to clean the wounds with.

Unfortunately, Joseph wasn't quite as agile this morning as he had thought, and his movements caused Jamie to stir from her slumber. Her sky-blue eyes flickered open, and she yawned the cutest yawn Joseph had ever seen, a tiny squeak escaping her lips. As the fog cleared from her eyes, she made out the orange shape of a fox above her, and was momentarily frightened. Then she remembered who it was.

"Hey, Joseph," she said sleepily, a contented smile on her face.

"Hey," Joseph responded, laying a black-furred paw upon her shoulder. "How are you feeling?"

The bunny brought her paws to her eyes and tried to rub the sleep from them. "Exhausted," she said. She winced as she noticed the marks on her arms. "Oh, jeez," she muttered.

"Here," Joseph said, reaching out to her. "Let me see those." He tenderly held the bunny's arm, examining the wounds. "We need to get these cleaned," he said. "Do you have any rubbing alcohol?"

Jamie nodded her head, pointing to the door to the left of the bookshelf. "In the bathroom cupboard, top shelf."

"Okay," Joseph said. He stood up slowly, his paw resting on Jamie's shoulder until the last possible moment. He retrieved the alcohol from the bathroom, along with a box of tissues from the desk, and sat back down next to Jamie.

The bunny was quiet as she let Joseph tend to her wounds. She was perfectly capable of taking care of them herself, but she felt a warm feeling of comfort in her chest as the vulpine dabbed at the cuts. Having grown up with a sub-textual prejudice against foxes, she was surprised by how gentle and nurturing Joseph was, especially considering his past.

As he finished drying Jamie's upper arms with the tissues, a new scent, tinged with salt, met Joseph's nostrils. He looked up to see that Jamie's cheeks were streaked with silent tears.

"Hey," he said, gently grasping her shoulders. "What is it? What's wrong, Jamie?"

She gave a slight sniffle before she responded. "I'm sorry," she said. "For last night. I…I just wanted us to have a nice time and…I had to go and ruin everything…" The bunny began to cry openly now, tiny gasps escaping her quivering lips. The sight broke Joseph's heart. Instinctively, he pulled her into his arms and wrapped her in a tight embrace.

" _Don't you dare,_ " he said softly. "Don't you  _dare_  apologize. You have nothing,  _nothing_ to be sorry for." He pulled back a little so he could look down into Jamie's sky-blue eyes. "You hear me?  _You did nothing wrong._ "

Jamie now dissolved into full-blown sobbing, burying her face in Joseph's shirt. It was all he could do to keep himself from breaking down, too. Seeing this sweet little rabbit in pain caused him more agony than anything those scientists could have done to him. He held the bunny closer to himself, as much for his own comfort as hers.

After a few minutes of crying, Jamie gave a final sniffle and raised her head, wiping her face with the paper towels. "God, I'm such a baby," she said. "A little thunder and lightning and I go crazy."

"You're not a baby," Joseph responded. "You went through something traumatic when you were little, Jamie. You almost  _died_. It's only natural that you'd have a fear of storms after something like that."

Jamie gazed up at her friend, the tiniest of smiles gracing her lips. "I'm not gonna get you to agree with me on this, am I?"

"Not if you're gonna keep being self-deprecating," Joseph said.

"I'm being realistic. I'm a cowardly little dumb bunny who's afraid of thunderstorms."

Joseph grabbed his friend's chin and brought her eyes to his. "You are  _not_ a coward," he said. "'Cause if you are, that means I am, too."

A puzzled look crossed Jamie's face. "What do you mean, you are too?"

Joseph hung his head slightly, a sheepish expression passing over his face. "Did Judy ever tell you about the first night I spent at her house?" he asked her.

The bunny shook her head. "No," she replied. "Why?"

The fox took in a deep breath before responding. "I—I have night terrors," he said shakily. "Really bad ones, about the things that happened to me. I can get…violent, sometimes. The first night I was in Zootopia, I dreamt that they—they were electrocuting me again."

He closed his eyes and grit his teeth at the memory. "I clawed up the bedsheets," he continued. "Nick had to wake me up. I…I even…" The fox hung his head even further, ashamed, but knowing that it needed to be said. "I wet the bed," he finished mournfully.

Joseph's eyes snapped open as he felt Jamie's paw rest softly against his cheek.

"Oh, Joey," she said, causing his heart to twist again, "I'm so sorry. I—I didn't know—"

"It's okay," the fox said tenderly. "We all have our scars, Jamie. All of us. You have the storm, I have HYDRA. Judy told me about how a fox attacked her when she was nine and the memory almost destroyed her relationship with Nick. Nick told me how a bunch of bullies put a muzzle on him when he was a kid just because he was a fox." He gently laid his paw over Jamie's where it rested on his cheek. "We all have our scars," he repeated quietly. "It's nothing to be ashamed of."

The bunny nodded slightly. "Okay," she admitted. "But I'm still a dumb bunny."

" _No_ ," Joseph said, his voice serious. He once again lifted Jamie's eyes to his. "You are  _not_ a dumb bunny. Okay? You. Are.  _Perfect."_

Jamie looked into the fox's eyes, and she saw that he meant it. She lowered her gaze one again—only this time she wrapped her arms around Joseph, leaning into his chest, finding comfort in the sound of his beating heart.

"Thank you," she said. "For staying. For being so kind. Thank you for being my friend."

"I will  _always_  be here for you, Jamie," he promised her. "Always."

The pair sat there on the bed for several minutes, merely holding each other. Suddenly, a thought occurred to Jamie.

"Joseph," she said, "I didn't…scare you last night, did I?"

At the question, she felt his heart rate pick up. He was silent for a moment before he answered.

"I was more terrified last night than I've ever been in my life."

A cold fist squeezed Jamie's heart. Had she blacked out last night and gone crazy? Oh, God...had she tried to hurt Joseph?

"What did I do?" she asked, choking up again.

"Nothing," Joseph said quickly. "I just…I thought…" A sniffle from the fox caused her to raise her head. Joseph was blinking tears from his eyes. "It sounded like you were dying," he choked, trying to pinch the moisture away from his eyes. "I thought you were going to start choking or something. I…I was so scared that you were gonna…pass out and…" The fox sniffled again. "N-not wake up," he finished. "I—"

Joseph's words were cut off as Jamie did something even she didn't expect. She slowly reached up and wrapped her arms around Joseph's neck, almost exactly like he had imagined yesterday in the cruiser. Lifting herself so that her face was just above his, she began gently nuzzling her chin, then her nose, against his cheek, a slight purr escaping her teeth.

 _Oh—oh my…_ , Joseph thought. His mind seemed to dissolve into a haze of electricity as the bunny continued to nuzzle him. His heart began to beat so furiously that he was sure the force of it would propel Jamie from his arms. However, she stayed put, beginning to move down his neck, now rubbing her nose and chin against the underside of his jaw. He thought he felt his very soul slipping from his body.

Suddenly, Joseph found his body moving on its own, without any volition from his mind. Without really even realizing he was doing it, Joseph wrapped his arms tighter around Jamie and buried his nose in the crook of her neck, nuzzling her in return. He breathed in her scent, and he knew this must be what heaven was like. His heart sped up until it was like one long, continuous beat, and his breathing was like a freight engine.

Joseph felt the fire flare up inside him again, but this time, he didn't care. He didn't care about anything but Jamie, the way her breath puffed across his fur, the way her scent flooded his entire being, the way her warm body pressed softly against his. The fox could still smell her strawberry shampoo, but it was being slowly overtaken by a slightly musky odor that Joseph recognized but couldn't seem to place. He could feel himself getting more and more excited, and-given that she was sitting directly on his lap-knew that Jamie would be able to feel it soon, too. But it didn't matter. Nothing mattered. Nothing ever would matter, except for the bunny in his arms.

It was the most incredible thing he'd ever felt.

The bliss being shared by the pair was so complete and impenetrable that neither could hear the sound of rapid footfalls just outside in the hallway. Their concentration was only broken when the door flew open and connected with the wall with a loud  _crack._

The two mammal's heads whipped towards the sound, their arms still wrapped around each other, their chests rising and falling heavily. When Joseph saw who had entered, his eyes widened in shock and fear.

 _Oh, crap,_ he thought.

Judy was standing in the doorway, chest heaving with labored breaths, dressed in only a set of carrot-patterned pajamas and her police belt. Nick stood behind her, also breathless in just a white t-shirt and pair of basketball shorts.

"Guys," Joseph said, "what are you doing here?"

Judy's eyes locked on the fox, momentarily oblivious of his position. "You never came home last night," she said, a worried tone in her voice as she strode into the apartment. "We've been calling and texting you half the night but you never—" The bunny suddenly realized that Joseph was sitting on her sister's bed, Jamie in his lap with their arms wrapped around each other, both their chests rising and falling faster than they should be.

" _JOSEPH_ _NICHOLAS WILDE_ _!"_  the rabbit screamed suddenly. " _WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY SISTER?!"_

Joseph and Jamie immediately scurried backwards from each other, placing their paws in the air defensively.

"Nothing!" Joseph said. Before he could say anything else, Judy had crossed the room, jumped onto the bed, and grabbed a fistful of Joseph's shirt, bringing his muzzle within an inch of hers.

"Why didn't you come home last night?" she shouted at him, a noticeable tremor in her voice—whether from anger or worry, he couldn't tell. Before the fox could answer, Judy caught a whiff of the mixture of scents rolling off of him. "And  _why_ " she growled, " _do you have my sister's scent all over you?_ "

"I was nuzzling him!" Jamie burst out. "That's it, Judy! I was nuzzling him and nothing else!"

"And  _why_ were you nuzzling him on your bed at 7:30 in the morning after he was here all night?" Judy demanded.

Jamie's ears began to glow a bright red. "I just…wanted to say thank you," she said sheepishly. "And…and I _asked_ him to stay," the rabbit added, a defensive tone in her voice.

"Why?"

Jamie lowered her head in shame. She just barely managed to squeak out the word " _Storm._ "

All the anger immediately left Judy's body as she realized what her baby sister meant. "Oh, my gosh," she said, her ears drooping. "Oh, Jamie, I'm sorry!" She leapt across the bed and wrapped her sister in a hug. "I was so worried about why Joseph wasn't coming home I didn't even think about the storm." She pulled back to look at her sister's face. "Are you okay?"

Jamie nodded, her eyes flitting to the fox on the bed. "Joseph held me-I-I mean, helped me, he helped me...get through it. That's why I was…" The blush returned to Jamie's ears again.

Judy let go of her sister and turned to face Joseph again. "So you guys didn't… _do_  anything, right?"

"No," Joseph said, shaking his head quickly. "I mean, we slept together—". Joseph's eyes widened as Judy's ears shot back up and he realized what he just said. "Not like that!" he quickly assured her. "I mean, I—I held her while we slept, 'cause she was scared."

Judy eyed the fox carefully. "So, you didn't come home last night because…"

"Jamie had a panic attack," Joseph said quietly, not wanting to embarrass his friend. "I…I couldn't leave her."

"Okay," Judy said. "So why didn't you answer your phone?"

A puzzled look flitted across Joseph's face as he reached into his pocket to take out the phone. Turning it on, he saw a red X through the bars at the top. "No signal," he said, holding the device out for Judy to examine. "The storm might have knocked out the tower or something."

Nodding, Judy turned back to her sister. "You sure you're okay?" she asked.

Jamie nodded. "I'm good," she said.

Judy heaved a sigh. "Okay," she said. " _Please_ don't let me catch you two doing something like that again," she said. Then almost as an afterthought, she added with a smirk, "If you're gonna do it, do it somewhere you won't get caught."

Joseph's face burned so much he thought his fur would ignite. "Got it," he muttered.

"No problem," Jamie said, also burning. "But for the record, you did barge into  _my_  apartment without knocking, so…"

"Good," Judy said, ignoring her sister's comment. Judy hopped off the bed and walked towards her boyfriend, who was watching the scene with rapt attention. "Come on, Joseph," Judy said. "Let's get home."

The fox wordlessly extricated himself from the bed. As he shrugged on his hoodie and headed for the door, he felt a paw grasp his arm. He turned around to meet Jamie's sky-blue gaze once more. "Thank you again, Joseph," she said. "I'll see ya." She suddenly leapt up and wrapped her arms around Joseph's neck once more in a tight hug. As she lowered herself back down to the ground, she planted another kiss on Joseph's cheek, this one lingering a bit longer than the last.

"See you, Jamie," he said, his cheeks burning even more, and gently shut the door behind him.

As he exited into the hallway, he felt a slight punch connect with his arm.

"You sly fox, you!" Nick said with a devious grin.

"Nick," Judy said, "if I hear even one semi-lewd comment from you, you will be sleeping on the couch for a week."

"Sorry, Carrots," Nick said, suddenly devoid of his usual sarcasm.

"So…" Joseph said, trying to dispel the tension in the air, "how did you guys' night go?"

"Not fun," Nick said with a yawn, his tongue momentarily lolling out of his mouth. "Definitely not as fun as yours," he added with a grin.

" _Nick, stop._ " Judy scolded.

"It was  _not_ fun," Joseph said, a sudden force in his tone. "I thought she was dying."

Judy was brought to a halt by the pain that was evident in Joseph's voice. She turned to face him before the trio began to descend the stairs. "Hey," she said, "are you okay?"

Joseph nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I'm just glad she is."

 _She's got this poor fox in the palm of her paw and she doesn't even know it,_  Judy thought. "Thank you," she said. "For being there for her."

Joseph was silent for a moment before he spoke. "Always," he said softly.

As the three made their way down the stairs, Joseph thought of how Jamie had nuzzled him, how she'd looked at him, how she'd planted that lingering kiss on his cheek. He remembered the sound of her racing heart as she had nuzzled him, the ever-so-slightly musky tinge to her scent…

Suddenly, like a lightbulb going off in his brain, Joseph realized where he knew that smell from. It wasn't exactly the same, but it was similar enough that Joseph realized the scents were connected. He had smelled it for weeks on end when he had lived in a forest while on the run, and he'd smelled a number of times in Zootopia...always drifting out from under Nick and Judy's bedroom door on the nights when they were  _clearly_ not sleeping. The smell wasn't fear, or sadness, or even contentment…

It was pheromones.

As this realization and other thoughts of that sweet little bunny flitted through his mind, Joseph couldn't help but think…

_Perhaps there's something there that wasn't there before…_


	19. Mea Culpa

"Hellooo, earth to Judy, come in Judy!"

Judy glanced up from the blueberry pancakes she was beginning to burn, broken from her train of thought by Joseph's words. "What?" she snapped back at him.

A slightly wounded expression crossed Joseph's face. "Sorry," he said. "I just… are you guys okay? You seem really quiet this morning."

Judy let out a sigh as she turned off the fire on the stove and began piling the pancakes onto a plate. "Yeah," she lied. "We're totally fine."

"No, you're not, Judy," Joseph said, his voice concerned. "I may not have been a fox for very long, but I can tell that something's off with you two. Your ears are droopy, you've hardly smiled at all this morning, Nick's only made two smart-aleck remarks, and…" Joseph took a sip from his coffee. "Well, not that it's really any of my business, but you two are usually all over each other at home. I don't think I've seen you kiss once today."

Judy turned from the counter and crossed her arms, suddenly frustrated. "You're right," she said in a tight voice. "That really  _isn't_  any of your business."

Joseph bit his lip, suddenly feeling guilty. "I'm sorry. I just…I'm worried about you guys, is all."

Judy's anger deflated almost as soon as it had come. "No, Joseph, I'm sorry." She rubbed her paws across her face in a gesture of tiredness. "I shouldn't have snapped at you. I just…" The bunny heaved a great sigh. "Last night was a really rough night for us."

Joseph straightened in his chair, his eyes full of concern. "Did you guys have a fight?" he asked. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, no, it was nothing like that," Judy assured him. "It was nothing between Nick and me. It was…um, we were doing a stake out last night and…" Judy felt her lip begin to tremble as the memories from the previous night came rushing back. She saw the blood mixing with the rain, heard the sound of Myrcella's dying breath, saw the street light reflected in her unseeing eyes…

Remembering it all at once was too much for the little rabbit. " _Oh, God,_ " she groaned, and fell into the chair opposite Joseph at the kitchen table, immediately bursting into tears. She barely heard Joseph's chair scrape on the tile floor as he rose and rushed over to her, kneeling down in front of her so as to be on eye level.

"Judy, what's wrong?" the fox asked. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Judy just shook her head in response. "I…I can't…" she sobbed.

"What's going on?" came a voice from the kitchen doorway. Joseph turned around and saw Nick standing there in a dark blue bathrobe, his russet fur still damp from the shower he'd just finished. He swiftly crossed the room and immediately placed his paws gently on his girlfriend's shoulders, barely taking notice of Joseph as he elbowed him out of the way. "Judy, baby, what's wrong?" When Judy merely shook her head and continued to sob, Nick turned on Joseph. "What happened?" he demanded.

"I don't know!" Joseph said defensively. "I just asked her why you two were acting so down this morning, and then she said something about last night, and—"

" _Why in the hell would you ask her about last night?!_ " Nick shouted. The fatherly affection he'd come to feel for the kit was momentarily overtaken at the thought that he might have caused Judy pain—again-even if unintentionally.

Joseph jerked backwards, as if Nick's words had been a physical slap in the face. "I—I'm sorry…" he stuttered. "I—I didn't mean to—I just wanted to help—"

"If you want to help, then go to your room," Nick snapped. He turned back to his partner and folded her in his arms. "I think you've done enough."

Nick didn't see the look of gut-wrenching pain in Joseph's eyes as he turned tail and ran back to his room, a final " _I'm sorry_ " escaping from his lips.

It took only a couple minutes of Nick holding Judy and whispering reassuring words in her ear for the little bunny to subside from sobs to sniffles. "You're okay, Carrots," he whispered gently to her. "I'm right here, I'm not gonna leave y—" Nick's words were cut off as Judy forcefully pressed her mouth to his in a kiss that held all the pain and sorrow and anger of the previous night. Judy grabbed a fistful of fur on the back of Nick's head, placing her other hand on his shoulder and pressing him closer to her, as if she thought she could fuse the two of them together by the force of the kiss.

After several seconds, the couple broke apart and Judy pressed her forehead up against Nick's, both of them breathing heavily. "I love you, Nick Wilde," she rasped, planting another quick kiss on his lips. "I love you so much."

"I love you more," Nick whispered, pressing his nose to his partner's forehead. "Always have, always will." After a few seconds of silence, Nick said "You gonna be okay?"  
"Yeah," Judy replied, her voice still trembling slightly as she wiped the tears from her face. "I'm good."

"What happened?" Nick asked.

"Nothing, really. Joseph was worried about us, and I started talking about last night, and…" She suddenly raised her eyes to Nick's. "Nick, you shouldn't have yelled at him like that."

Nick hung his head in sudden shame. "I know, sweetie," he said. "It's just, when it comes to you, sometimes I don't think clearly. I know we've moved past what happened, but it still—"

_Bang._

Judy's ears went up at the noise. "What was that?" she asked.

_Bang._

"I don't know," Nick said. "It sounded like it came from Joseph's room."

_Bang. Bang. BANG._

The two quickly rose from their spot at the kitchen table and made their way to Joseph's room.

"Joseph?" Judy called out as she exited the kitchen, turning right into the hall that ended in Joseph's bedroom. "Are you alri—" Both Judy's words and footsteps stopped abruptly when the doorway to Joseph's room came into view. Nick bumped into her from behind, but she barely noticed.

"Carrots, what is it?" Nick said, startled by her sudden stop. He looked from her face to where her eyes were trained, and stopped in his tracks as well. "Oh, God," he muttered.

Joseph was standing in the doorway, his body parallel with the frame. The pair realized where the loud banging noise had come from as Joseph leaned back and slammed his forehead into the wood with a loud  _crack._

"Bad," he muttered, leaning back and hitting his head again, harder this time. "Stupid,"- _BANG-_ "worthless,"- _BANG-_ " _selfish_ ,"- _BANG-_ " _MONSTER_!" Joseph cracked his head on the doorframe again, and this time Judy moved.

" _Joseph, stop_!" she yelled. She placed herself between the fox and the doorway, pushing him backward before his skull connected with the wood again. "Joseph, what the hell are you doing?" she questioned, pushing him over to the bed and helping him sit down.

" _I'm bad_ ," the fox muttered, his voice catching. "I'm a monster."

"Buddy, what are you talking about?" Nick said as he made his way into the room. A quick glance at the door frame revealed that the wood had actually splintered slightly where Joseph's head had connected. He looked back at his adopted son and noticed a wet, matted spot of fur on his forehead, accompanied by the coppery smell of blood in the air. Nick felt a lump rise in his throat and his heart contract as he saw the kit's injury. "Joseph, what did you do to yourself?" he asked softly.

"I'm bad," Joseph repeated, his head hanging in shame. He laid his ears flat against his head as a tiny droplet of blood fell onto his jeans. "I hurt Judy…again. I'm a monster."

"Joseph, what are you talking about?" Judy questioned. "I'm fine, you didn't hurt me. Look, I don't even have the bruises anymore. Why would you think you hurt me?"

Joseph's amber eyes briefly met Judy's purple ones before flitting back down to his lap. "I made you cry," he said mournfully, putting his head in his hands. "I hurt you, because I'm a sick, selfish monster. That's all I've ever been and that's  _all I'm ever going to be!_ "

"No, no, Joseph, that's not your fault," Judy reassured him, taking his paws in hers. "It wasn't anything you said, I just…had a rough night last night."

Joseph kept his eyes down. "I'm sorry," he groaned. "I'm so sorry."

"I'm the one who should be apologizing, buddy," said Nick, laying his paw on Joseph's shoulder. "I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, it was uncalled for. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel bad."

"You didn't have to," Joseph retorted. "I'm a monster."

"No, you're not." Judy stated forcefully. "You're our 'ohana, remember? You're our family, and we love you. Right, Nick?"

"Damn straight, we do," said the fox, sitting down on the bed beside Joseph. He wrapped his arm around Joseph's shoulders and pulled him into a side hug. "You're a good mammal, Joseph, one of the best I've ever met. You are  _not_  a monster."

"Yes, I am!" Joseph nearly shouted. "I am a  _killer_ , a  _murderer!_  All I ever do is destroy things and hurt people and screw everything up. Everything I touch burns."

"Bullscat," Judy said. "You haven't even been here a month and you've saved two kids, you saved Nick and me from an assassin, and just last night you helped my little sister through a panic attack. Monsters don't do those kinds of things, Joseph."

Joseph was silent for a moment as Judy pulled him into a hug, and Nick followed suit a moment later. After a few seconds, he simply whispered, "I love you guys."

"We love you too, buddy," Nick said, extricating himself from the hug. Judy did the same. "Joseph, why were you hitting your head like that?"

"Punishment," the fox said, finally lifting his eyes. "I did something bad, so I felt like I had to punish myself."

"Well, you don't," Judy said. "What you do need to do is get that head of yours checked out. It looks like you did a number on yourself there."

"I'll be fine," Joseph insisted. "I've got a thick head"

"Still," Judy said, "you're bleeding a little. You might have a concussion. We need to get you looked at." The rabbit looked up at her partner. "Emergency room?" she asked.

"That shouldn't be necessary," Nick said. "There are some home tests we can do to make sure he's not concussed."

"Guys, really, I'll be fine," Joseph insisted. "I've been through a lot worse than a few knocks to the head."

"Doesn't matter," Judy said, shaking her head. "You're family, and we take care of family, no matter what."

Joseph let out an exasperated sigh. "Alright," he said. "Bring it on."

After pulling up a how-to guide on home concussion tests on her phone, Judy proceeded to clean Joseph's head wound (which was even smaller than the one Karatov had given Nick) while Nick asked him questions to make sure his brain was working right. He then proceeded to make Joseph follow his index finger with his eyes and check to see whether or not his pupils dilated.

"Looks like you're all good," Nick said as he turned off the flashlight on his phone. He laid a gentle paw on Joseph's shoulder. "Just… please don't do anything like that again, bud."

Joseph rubbed the white spots from his eyes. "I won't," he promised. "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize," Judy said from beside him. "Just promise us if you feel like hurting yourself again, you'll talk to one of us, okay?"

Joseph nodded. "Okay," he said. "I promise."

"Good," Nick proclaimed. "Now come here, big guy!" he said, and wrapped Joseph in a hug. A second later, Judy joined in.

"I love you guys," Joseph said again.

"We love you, too, buddy," said Nick. "Now," he said, extricating himself from the hug, "I believe the lovely Miss Hopps has prepared blueberry pancakes for us."

"Nick, do you always have food on your mind?" Judy asked with a giggle.

"Absolutely, 100%," Nick said proudly.

Judy gave her boyfriend a playful shove. "Dumb fox," she said.

"Sly bunny," Nick retorted, planting a quick kiss on her head.

"Don't you guys have a bedroom of your own for this stuff?" Joseph said sarcastically as he rose from the bed.

"Fair point," Nick said. "Let's go have some breakfast."

Once the three had finished their meal (and after Joseph had wolfed down what even Nick considered to be an unholy number of pancakes), Judy announced that she was going to take a shower, leaving Nick and Joseph alone in the kitchen. As Nick got up and began clearing the kitchen table, Joseph heard the shower turn on, and cleared his throat.

"Hey, Nick?" the kit said nervously.

"Yeah, buddy?" the fox answered from the sink.

"You and I are…pretty close, right?" he asked. "Like, father-and-son close?"

Nick set the dishes down in the sink, turning to look at Joseph with a concerned look in his eyes. "Yeah," he responded, "I feel like we are. Do you?"

The fox nodded in affirmation. "Yeah," he said. A sheepish expression crossed his face. "I just…do you mind if we have, kind of a…father/son chat?"

The older fox's eyebrows lifted slightly as he took his seat at the kitchen table. "Does this have something to do with your…activities last night?" he asked slyly.

Joseph bit his lip in minor trepidation. "Kind of," he replied.

"Did you guys really just sleep, or did you not want Judy to know?"

"We didn't do anything," the kit assured him. "We're just friends. But, lately, especially since we went ice skating…" Joseph gulped and scratched his head nervously. "I've been having…feelings."

Nick couldn't help but smile at the innocence with which the young reynard spoke. "You really like her, don't you?" he questioned.

The younger fox gave him a nod. "But it's not just that," he said. "I've been having…other feelings, too. Darker ones. Thoughts, and—and dreams. And it's been really hard to ignore them."

A concerned look passed over Nick's face as he realized what kinds of thoughts and feelings Joseph was talking about. "Someone  _did_ have the Talk with you, right, buddy?" he asked him. "I mean, you know how it works?"

"Yeah, yeah," Joseph assured him, a blush rising into his cheeks. "I mean, I know how it works for humans. I never really studied animal biology, but I'm guessing it's pretty much the same."

"Well, there are some slight variations between different types of species," the older vulpine explained. "For canids—you know, wolves, foxes, coyotes, and the like—there is one thing in particular we need to be aware of before…you know."

"And that is?"

A small but devious smirk curled Nick's lip. "Have you ever heard of knotting?" he questioned.

"No," Joseph answered.

Nick got a kick out of watching the younger fox's eyes widen when he told him what it meant; he could practically feel the blush rolling off of him at the explanation.

"Oh," Joseph said simply, his voice little more than a squeak. " _Oh, my_."

A giggle escaped Nick's lips. "Watch out for that the next time you're over at Jamie's," he quipped evilly.

"Oh, I have no intention of—" The kit waved his paws in front of his face dramatically. "Doing that. Like, ever."

"' _Ever_ '?" Nick parroted back. "I thought you said you liked her."

"I do! I'm just…trying to like her the right way. Thinking about Jamie like that, it just feels…wrong, I guess."

"Buddy, it's not wrong," the older fox assured him. "It's natural, biological. She's a girl, you're a guy, that's the way it works."

"Still," Joseph insisted. "She's my friend."

"But you want her to be more than your friend, don't you?"

The kit nodded solemnly. "She's…so kind," he said softly, his eyes becoming unfocused. "And sweet, and caring, and beautiful, and…" He suddenly shook his head in denial, not wanting to feel this way right now. "It doesn't matter," he said dejectedly. "It's not like I'd have a chance, anyway."

"What makes you say that?" Nick asked him.

"Um," the fox said, as though the answer should be obvious. He splayed his paws out, gesturing back to himself. "I'm  _me,_ " he said. "You know, mutant-hybrid super-assassin, emotionally stunted, clinical depression and anger management issues, enough emotional baggage to crash a FedEx shipping plane?" He sat back in the chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "You'd have better luck setting Saint Teresa up with the Devil."

Nick merely looked at the kit for a few moments, pondering what to say. "Okay," he said at last, splaying his paws flat on the table. "You think that Jamie could never like you that way because of your laundry list of character defects, right?"

"Right," Joseph agreed.

"Okay. Let's examine a similar situation," Nick said, gesturing towards himself just as Joseph had. He held up a paw and began ticking off points. "Dad died when I was seven," he said, "got beat up and muzzled when I was nine, so there's your trauma and emotional baggage. Gave up on all my dreams and started emotionally blocking myself off from everyone, my mother included. Started hustling when I was twelve, started drinking and doing drugs when I was sixteen, walked out on my mom when I was eighteen and didn't speak to her for close to fifteen years. I almost died of an overdose when I was 29 and have committed numerous crimes, including two solid decades of felony tax evasion, and this is all  _before_ I met my girlfriend.

"So, I meet this cop one day, make her trust me and then stab her in the back for money, say horrible things to her, and then she comes to me for help looking for a missing otter. I say some even more horrible things to her but still help her because if I don't she can bust me for tax evasion, and end up laying my trauma in front of her after knowing her for barely 48 hours, something I was never able to do with my closest friends. We find the otter, she tells me that she wants me to be her  _partner_ —not just that I'd make a good cop, but that she literally wants me to make a lifelong commitment to this job  _with her—_ and then I basically spit in her face and walk away from her because of her  _own_ trauma, sending her spiraling into a depression that ends up making her give up on her dream. Three months later, she comes to me— _she_ comes to  _me—crying,_ and begging for my forgiveness, saying that she can't solve this case without me even though we both know she's 110% capable of doing anything she puts her mind to. We solve the case, nearly getting killed in the process, and I join the academy, spending the next six months wondering how in the hell I got so lucky to have a friend like her, and at the same time knowing that I'm in love with her and there's no way in hell she could ever love me that way. She pins a badge on my chest in what is undoubtedly the proudest moment of my life, and after a couple months of being on the job together, I ask her out, thinking that there is  _no way_  on God's green earth that she could  _possibly_ feel the same way about me that I do about her, but  _she says yes._ We go out, we kiss, it's amazing, and five months later I tell her I love her, and by some alignment of the stars and planets—"

The fox suddenly stopped his speech, choking up at the memory. "She...she says that  _she loves me, too,_  and even... _shows me_ that night how much she loves me. And that is the  _very same day_ that we bring home our first child, the honest, caring, brave, selfless, and downright heroic fox sitting before me now."

Nick sat back heavily in his chair, winded from his rant. "After all of that," he said, his voice trembling with emotion as tears leaked from the corners of his green eyes, "after everything that I've done, everything that I said to her, the night that we brought you home, Judy Hopps told me that she loved me." The fox paused to take a shaking breath, wiping the tears from his eyes before raising them to Joseph's. "If someone as broken and callous as me can change his tune and end up with someone as monolithically perfect as Judith Laverne Hopps, and even have a young man look at him like a father,  _how dare you think that you couldn't have that, too?_ "

Joseph sat in absolute and utter shock as Nick finished his speech, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open like a broken door. He was completely floored at Nick's confession, and even more shocked that he thought of  _him_ as something good in his life.

"Nick…" he choked out, not knowing what to say, "I…I didn't know…"

"It's okay, buddy," the fox said, wiping the last tears away from his cheeks. "I just want you to understand that you are a good man, a better man than me, and that you should never think that Jamie wouldn't like you because of who you are. If that bunny has half the brains her sister has, she'll be able to see how wonderful of a person you are and will be begging you to ask her out inside of a week." He quickly stood up and walked around the table, squatting down in front of Joseph and wrapping him in a hug.

"Thank you, Nick," Joseph said shakily as he hugged the elder fox back. "For everything. For giving me a home, for telling me that I'm good…" He leaned his head into Nick's shoulder, just as he had done when he'd had his night terror, when Nick had told him that he loved him like a son. "Thank you for being my dad, Nick."

Nick squeezed the boy's shoulders even more tightly, and thought for the millionth time how he didn't deserve such a wonderful life. " _You are my son_ , Joseph Solomon _,_ " Nick said to him. "Never forget that. You're  _mine_ , mine to  _me_. No matter what blood flows in your veins, no matter where you go, no matter what they call you, you will  _always be my son_. I love you."

"I love you, too, Nick," the kit responded tearfully.

A moment later, the two foxes heard a sniffle from the doorway behind them, and both looked up to see Judy standing there in a purple bathrobe, her fur still wet from her shower and a towel wrapped around her head. She had her paw on her mouth in an attempt to stifle the happy tears she was shedding.

"God, you two are so sweet," she said, walking up to the two reynards and embracing them both. "We've got to get some family pictures taken sometime."

"I could definitely deal with that," Joseph chuckled as the three separated.

"Well, we've got the day off, Carrots," Nick told his girlfriend as he placed a quick kiss on her lips. "Isn't there that Touchstone Photos place in the mall in Sahara Square?"

"That's right!" Judy said in realization. "We should go if it's still open after we're done at the DMV."

Nick's eyebrows went up at that. "The DMV?" he questioned. "You got another plate you need Flash to run, Carrots?"

The bunny giggled and gave her fox a playful smack on the shoulder. "Not this time, Slick," she answered. "Chief Bogo called and said it was about time we get Joey here some proper identification."

"Oh, cool!" Joseph interjected. "I'll finally be an official citizen of Zootopia."

"That's right," Judy said as she softly patted him on the back. "There is one thing the Chief wanted me to ask you first, though."

"Oh? What's that?"

The bunny smiled slightly. "He's got a friend getting you a birth certificate made up," she explained, "and he just wanted you to know that, since you don't  _technically_  exist in this world…if you wanted to, you could actually change your name."

An odd expression crossed Joseph's face, a mix of shock and thoughtfulness. "Change my name?" he asked.

"It's not like you have to," Judy assured him. "He just thought that, since you're starting a whole new life here, and your old life was…well, kind of crappy, maybe you'd want to leave that part behind." She placed her paw on the kit's shoulder and rubbed it back and forth comfortingly. "But that's up to you, buddy."

A wistful smile spread across the young reynard's face. "It's funny, actually," he said sheepishly. "I, uh…I kind of already did that."

Nick looked at him curiously. "Already did what?" he asked.

Joseph bit his lip nervously. "Changed my name," he admitted.

"When did you do that?" Judy asked him.

"After I escaped," the kit answered softly. "I knew I was going to be on the run, and I'd probably have to interact with people eventually, so I couldn't exactly use my birth name. Besides, like you said, that old life was over, and the old me had literally died in Area 51. I was a completely different person when I left that base than I was when I went in."

"So what was your new name?" Nick asked.

"I named myself after the people I wanted to be like," Joseph explained. "Someone strong, someone holy, and someone wise. Saint Joseph of Nazareth, Saint Anthony of the Desert, and King Solomon of Israel."

"Wow," Judy said, impressed. "So…what was your birth name?"

The kit smiled and shook his head. "Doesn't matter," he said. "That person is gone. And, I think…so is the guy who wandered the world for two years, believing that he could never be loved. I'm not that person anymore. I'm…someone better."

Nick gave the boy a glowing smile and squeezed his shoulder. "So, who are you now, buddy?" he asked gently.

"Well," the fox responded, "I still want to be strong, and you guys know me as Joseph, so I'm keeping that one." All three of them laughed lightly at that. "But, you know, there was another saint that I always admired, one who was generous and loving, but tough when he needed to be. They say he punched a heretic in the face once."

"Really?" Judy said with a grin. "And which saint is that?"

The kit smiled widely, intentionally stalling for dramatic effect. "A third-century bishop from Myra," he explained. "There's a legend about him that he used to throw coins through the windows of poor families' homes into the socks that were drying over the fire. His name has even more meaning to me now than it did back then."

"You're killing us, kid," Nick said playfully. "What's this guy's name?"

Joseph raised his paw and laid over Nick's, where it rested upon his shoulder. "Nicholas," he said. "St. Nicholas of Myra."

Joseph felt Nick's paw squeeze his shoulder tightly when he said the name, his eyes widening slightly. "Is it…just the saint's name that you want?" he asked softly, tears shining in his eyes again.

The young fox shook his head, smiling even wider. "No," he said. "I'm not Joseph Anthony Solomon anymore. From now on, my name is Joseph Nicholas Wilde."

The kitchen was silent for a moment, the quiet only broken once Nick whispered a single word, his voice trembling like a leaf in a storm.

" _Wilde?_ " he asked.

Joseph nodded, tears shining in his eyes as well. "I'm yours, Nick," he said. "No matter what blood flows in my veins, no matter where I go, no matter what they call me, I will  _always be your son_." The kit leapt up and into his father's arms, holding him tightly and vowing to himself that he would never, ever let go of the family he had found.

* * *

The remainder of the day passed without quietly, aside from the tears that were shed before the trio left the apartment. Of course, much wasn't likely to happen while Nick, Judy, and Joseph waited in line for three hours at the DMV. The young fox had originally been excited when he saw that the office was manned (mammaled?) entirely by sloths (as sloths were one of his favorite animals growing up), but that excitement had quickly vanished when he realized how unbearably long this was going to take. Eventually, however, Joseph got his picture taken and was given his identification card. His heart swelled with joy and pride as he looked down at the little piece of plastic and read the name printed on it, knowing that this was who he truly was:  _Joseph Nicholas Wilde._

After they were finished at the DMV, the family headed over to the mall in Sahara Square to get some official family portraits taken. Luckily, the photo place had an opening, so they were able to get in right away. Nick and Judy had both chosen to wear their police uniforms, and Joseph was dressed in a black dress shirt and slacks they had picked up at Mousy's on the way there, a deep green tie around his neck. The photos were printed within the hour, a set given to each of them. Nick picked out a fancy frame for one of the more official shots and presented it to Joseph as a gift.

"For the eighteen birthdays I missed," he said jokingly. He had meant it to be a funny comment, but his son's only response was to wrap him in a hug that nearly broke his ribs.

Nick and Judy decided it would be appropriate to celebrate the occasion and saw fit to order pizza from Lou's LaGrotto (they would have eaten in, but the owner was still mad at them about the ruckus they'd caused). Upon arriving home, Nick ordered the pizza and the family sat down in the living room to watch  _The Rabbit: An Unexpected Journey_ on Netflix. As Joseph settled into the recliner and Nick and Judy snuggled up on the couch, he closed his eyes and did something he never thought he'd do again: he prayed.

 _Thank you,_ he prayed silently, not really knowing if there was anyone to listen. He guessed it didn't really matter—it felt right all the same.  _Thank you. For Nick, for Judy, for Jamie…for everything._

About halfway through the movie, Joseph felt a buzz in his pocket and heard his phone start to ring. Retrieving the device, Joseph looked at the screen and saw that Jamie's name was displayed.

"Who is it?" Judy asked from the couch, where she was snuggled up against Nick's chest.

"It's Jamie," explained Joseph, rising from the chair. "I should probably take this."

"You do that, bud," Nick said slyly, giving Joseph a quick wink as he walked by. Joseph rolled his eyes and went down the hallway to his bedroom and pressed the green "accept" button.

"Hello?" he said.

"Hey, Joseph!" came the bunny's voice from the other end. Joseph's heart skipped a beat when he heard it. "It's Jamie."

"Hey, Jamie!" Joseph replied. "Is everything alright?"

"Oh, yeah, everything's fine," she assured him. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing pretty good," he said. "Nick and Judy took me to get my ID today. I got a bit of a name change."

"You did what?" she asked him in shock.

"Don't worry, I'm still Joseph," he explained. "It's just that, Nick and Judy really are my family now, and Nick's really become a father to me. So I'm not Joseph Solomon anymore. My name is Joseph Wilde."

There was silence for a moment from the bunny on the other end. "Oh, my gosh," she said. "Joseph, that—oh, gosh, I am so happy for you!" He could tell by the tone of her voice that she really meant it.

"Thanks, Jamie," he responded. "I…you have no idea how happy I am right now."

"I can only imagine," Jamie said with a laugh, sending a jolt of electricity through Joseph's body. "So, hey, I was just thinking, you know, since last night didn't really…go as planned, maybe, um, we could…hang out sometime next week? You know, just the two of us?"

Joseph felt his heart rate pick up. She wanted to hang out  _again_? With  _him_? Not for the first time, he wondered how someone as pure and sweet as Jamie would ever want to hang out with the likes of him. Then, he remembered Nick's words from this morning, and tried to turn his thoughts to a more positive light.

"Um, yeah," Joseph said, coming out of a brief moment of shock. "Yeah, that'd be awesome. When were you thinking?"

"Well, I have Wednesday night off from work. Does that work for you?"

"Definitely," Joseph replied. "Actually, I think I overheard Nick saying that he and Judy were going out to dinner this coming Wednesday, so if you want we can hang out here."

"That sounds awesome!" Jamie said. "So, Wednesday night, your place, say…6:30?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Great. It's a date. Talk to you later,  _Mr. Wilde._ "

The word sent a spark of joy through the kit's soul. "Goodbye,  _Miss Hopps_ ," he replied playfully. "Have a good night." And with that, the line disconnected, leaving Joseph looking at the blank screen of his phone. After a moment, he sat down on the edge of his bed and took a deep breath, trying to slow his racing heart.

Once his pulse had slowed down, Joseph chuckled lightly. "Jamie," he said to himself, "someday you're going to be the death of me."


	20. Courage for a Cowardly Fox

_Winter is coming,_ Joseph thought as he grabbed the paper sack full of groceries from the trunk of Judy's car. A chill breeze cut through his jacket and fur, causing him to shiver, and he was grateful when he slid inside the warm lobby of Nick and Judy's apartment complex. He followed the two up to the apartment door, which Nick was trying to unlock with his left paw whilst precariously balancing a large sack of groceries in his right arm.

"Here, let me get that," Joseph said, and swiped the bag from Nick's arms, finally allowing him to open the door.

"Thanks," Nick said.

"Well, if he'd waited for you to open the door like you were trying to, the milk would've spoiled," Judy quipped from behind them, the large bag in front of her face muffling her voice.

"Har har," Nick said sarcastically, swinging the door inward. "At least I'm taller than the bags, Carrots."

"Hey, I'm taller than the bags!"

"You're on eye-level, hon," Nick stated with a smirk, taking his bag back from Joseph and proceeding through the apartment into the kitchen where he set the bag on the table. "Joseph, do you think you can handle the rest?"

"Sure thing," said the fox, immediately turning and heading back downstairs to the car.

Judy hopped up onto a kitchen chair and began removing the groceries from one of the bags. "So," she said, "you got that dinner reservation made, right?"

"Yes, Fluff, I made the reservations a week ago," Nick replied. "Don't worry about it."

"Just making sure," Judy responded, taking a box of fresh strawberries out of the bag. "It's a pretty fancy restaurant, so I doubt they'll seat us without a res."

"What, you think your sly fox can't smooth-talk his way into a restaurant?" Nick asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Judy let out a laugh. "You're slick, Nick, but not quite as slick as you think you are. The last time you tried that, you got punted by a polar bear."

"He got what now?" Joseph said as he returned to the kitchen, setting the last bag of groceries on the table.

"Carrots, don't—" Nick started to say in exasperation, but Judy was already talking.

"One time on one of our first dates, Nick tried to smooth talk his way into a dance club," she explained with a devious smirk on her face. "Long story short, the bouncer, who was a polar bear, literally picked him up and threw him into a pile of garbage."

" _Carrots!_ " Nick moaned.

"Oh, my gosh," Joseph said with a laugh. "I bet you smelled lovely after that, Nick."

"Yeah," said Nick, unpacking the last few items from his bag, "but, if I recall correctly, my efforts also got me some  _exceptional_  bunny kisses that night."

"Ugh," Joseph said with a laugh. "You two are sickening sometimes, you know that?"

"We know," Judy quipped, pulling a box of breakfast strudels out of the now empty bag. "We just—" Judy suddenly peered into the bottom of the bag, a concerned expression on her face. She looked up at the foxes. "Did either of you have flour in your bag?"

Nick shook his head, and Joseph quickly looked through his bag. "No," he said. "Why?"

"Scat," Judy swore, "tomorrow is Clawhauser's birthday and I was gonna bake him a cake when we got home tonight! I totally forgot the flour!"

"Chill out, Carrots," Nick said, circling across the table to put his paws on Judy's shoulders. "I'll go grab it for you."

"Thanks, sweetie," Judy said. "Just don't take too long. The reservation's in an hour and a half."

"Don't you worry your little bunny head. I'll be back in a jiff." Nick leaned down and pressed a kiss to Judy's forehead. "Love you."

Judy responded by reaching her paws around Nick's neck and pressing her lips to his. "Love you more," she said, when after several seconds they finally broke apart.

"Liar," Nick said playfully, planting one more kiss on her cheek before grabbing the car keys from the counter. "Be back soon, guys!" he called, his bushy orange tail disappearing around the corner of the doorway.

Judy let out a contented sigh and began to put the groceries away. She stopped, however, when she noticed the pained, sullen look on Joseph's face as he leaned his paws against the back of a chair. He looked like someone had just stabbed him with a pencil. She set a bag of bell peppers on the counter and walked over to him.

"Joseph?" she said, laying a paw on his arm. "You okay?"

Joseph blinked quickly, as though his thoughts had been somewhere else. "Yeah," he said unconvincingly. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"No, you're not," Judy said with authority. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, really," the fox said. "It's just…" Joseph paused for a moment before letting out a sigh and leaning against the table, suddenly tired. "It's just that, sometimes, when you and Nick are being all lovey-dovey with each other, I get kind of…" He twirled his paw in the air, trying to find the right word. "I don't really want to say 'jealous', because that's not really it, but…I don't know, I guess it just hurts to see you two so happy sometimes."

"What do you mean?" Judy asked, confused. "I thought you were happy for us."

"I am!" Joseph reassured her. "It's not that, it's just…" Joseph heaved another sigh, heavier this time, and rubbed his eyes in an expression of exhaustion. "I just really,  _really_  want something like what you two have—you know, a companion, a…a partner. And sometimes it just hurts seeing you two so happy and…knowing that I'm never gonna have that."

"Joseph, that's ridiculous! Why in the world wouldn't you be able to have what Nick and I have one day?"

"Because I'm  _me,_  Judy!" Joseph said frustratedly, as though this should be obvious. "I mean, look at me! I'm a freak, I'm a monster, I'm a murderer, and I was held captive in a secret military base for eight months and was on the run for two years! What kind of girl is gonna want to put up with that kind of emotional baggage, assuming I'd even be able to tell her about it? And it's not like I was exactly a prize before all that crap happened, either." Joseph sat down sullenly in one of the kitchen chairs, putting his head in his paw. "Come on, Judy. No girl could ever even  _like_  me, let alone love me like you do Nick. It just really hurts to think about that sometimes. That even if I always have you and Nick-which, let's face it, I'll probably find some way to screw this up, too—even if I always have you two, in some way I'll always still be alone."

Judy let out a long sigh, full of sympathy for the fox before her. She knew what she needed to say to him, but she wasn't so sure that she should. After all, it was her family…

 _So is he,_ Judy thought to herself.  _Don't you want them both to be happy? Shouldn't you at least give them that chance?_

Knowing the truth of her own thoughts, Judy took a deep breath, grabbed a chair, and sat down across from the fox. "Joseph," she said, "can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," he said sullenly, still not looking up.

"Are you blind or just stupid?"

Joseph's head snapped up immediately, blinking his eyes in confusion. "I'm sorry,  _what_?"

"I said, are you blind or just stupid? Because you'd have to be one of the two to miss what's staring you in the face."

The expression on Joseph's face was both dumbfounded and offended. "Judy, what are you talking about?"

" _Jamie,_ you big dummy!"

For a moment, the fox's mouth simply hung open in shock. " _Jamie?_ " he asked, as if the rabbit's name were in some alien language.

"Yeah, Jamie. You know, my sister, about yea tall, fur the color of caramel, sky-blue eyes, drop-dead gorgeous and  _totally into you_?"

Joseph simply shook his head as if Judy was speaking to him in a foreign tongue. "What are you talking about? Jamie is  _not_ into me. We—we're just friends."

"Oh, come on, Joseph. Look at the evidence." She held up her right paw and began counting. "She gave you her number half an hour after you met her, she has no problem with the fact that you're a mutant-hybrid super-assassin, she sang a love song and danced with you when we went ice-skating, she invited you over to her apartment  _alone_  to watch a movie, she looked to  _you_  for comfort during a panic attack, she  _nuzzled_ you as a way of saying thank you—which, in case you didn't know, is a very intimate gesture for rabbits—and  _she_ called  _you_ and said she wanted to hang out together tonight! Not to mention the fact that I can hear her heart rate pick up every time she's near you, and I'm guessing the only reason you can't tell is because yours is beating just as fast." Judy sat back, somewhat pleased by the dumbfounded expression on the fox's face. She decided not to mention that she could also  _smell_ Jamie's feelings as well as see them.

"B-but," Joseph stuttered, "she—she  _can't_  feel that way about me."

"Why not, Joseph? Why do you think Jamie can't like you?"

"Because she's...perfect," Joseph said solemnly, and Judy could tell by the far-away look in his eyes that he really and truly believed it. "And I'm…whatever the opposite of perfect is. It just…it doesn't make any sense."

"Not everything does" Judy said. "Not everything has to. Love least of all." She got a kick out of the way Joseph blanched at the word "love". "If you had told me the day I met Nick that one day we would be partners and be madly in love, I probably would have arrested you for suspected substance abuse. But," she shrugged, "here we are. And I'm happier now than I've ever been."

"But Nick's a good person," Joseph rebutted. "I'm not."

Judy let out an exasperated sigh. "When I met Nick, he was a selfish, patronizing con-artist, and, honestly, kind of an ass. Okay, to be fair, he's still kind of an ass, but he changed for the better, and so did I." She reached out and took Joseph's paws in hers. "You, Joseph Sol—" She stopped herself, still not quite used to the fact that the kit now bore Nick's name. "Joseph Wilde," she corrected, "are selfless, and kind, and brave. Jamie knows that, and I'm willing to bet money that if you asked her out, she'd say yes. You just need to give yourself a chance."

Joseph raised his eyes to hers, and in them Judy saw the tiniest glimmer of hope. "You really think she'd say yes?" he asked. "You really think she could…learn to love a monster?"

Judy raised her eyebrows. "If I recall correctly, they actually made a movie about that very concept, and it happens to be Jamie's favorite Disney classic. It's called  _Beauty and the Beast_. So yeah, I'd say you have a pretty good shot." She smiled at him. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Joseph, for your own good—and hers—please,  _ask my sister out._ "

Joseph finally returned Judy's smile. "If you say so," he said. "Thanks, Judy."

"C'mere, ya big dumb fox!" Judy said, rising from her chair and pulling Joseph into a hug. As she pulled away, she looked Joseph dead in the eye. "Quick question," she said. "Do you know what Genesis 4:15 says?"

Joseph shook his head. "Not off the top of my head, no. Why?"

Judy gave him a wicked smile. "'Therefore, whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold'. Just so you know, if you ever hurt my sister, you're going to  _wish you'd slain Cain_." She batted her eyelashes at him and tilted her head to the side. "Understood?"

Joseph gulped and then nodded professionally. "Yes, ma'am. Understood."

Judy smiled once more, reaching up and giving the fox a good-natured pat on the cheek. "Very good," she said. "Now help me put these groceries away before Nick gets back."

* * *

_Ding-dong._

Joseph leapt up from the couch at the sound of the doorbell, his heart already beating a mile a minute.  _Just be cool_ , he thought to himself.  _This isn't a date, not yet, you're just hanging out._ Joseph gave himself a quick once-over before reaching for the doorknob. He was wearing faded blue jeans and a dark blue t-shirt, which Judy had insisted went nicely with his fur. He'd found it a bit tight, but then, according to her, that was the point. He took a quick glance in the decorative mirror next to the front door to make sure his fur was straight, and he didn't have his shirt on inside out. Then, taking a deep breath, he grasped the knob, and pulled open the door.

There, in dim light of the hallway, stood the figure of Jamie Hopps. She was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a short-sleeved red leather jacket over a chocolate-brown sweater that matched her fur. The hem of the scarlet jacket came down to just above her hips, the sleeves stopping just past her elbows, and the soft evening light sparkled in her sky-blue eyes. As it always did when she was near him, Joseph's heart fluttered nervously. And, as was becoming just as common, he felt a tendril of dark fire whip through his chest as his eyes involuntarily lingered on the way Jamie's jeans hugged the gentle curve of her hips. Her sweater was just a tad bit too short for her, revealing a miniscule strip of the caramel-and-cream fur of her abdomen. The sight made Joseph's heart feel as though it were being squeezed by a massive fist.

"Hey," Jamie said.

"Hi, Jamie," Joseph responded shakily, his mouth a little dry. He stepped to the side to allow her to enter. "Come on in."

"Thanks," she said in reply, shrugging off her Jacket and hanging it on a peg by the door. Joseph had to make a conscious effort not to think about the way her little bunny tail stuck out through the back of her jeans. "How's it going?"

"I'm doing pretty well," Joseph said. "Nick and Judy left for their date about half an hour ago. How are you doing?"

"Oh, pretty good," she said. "I'm glad I got to come here tonight. Between school and waitressing, things have been a little hectic lately."

"Well, I can promise you there will be no heck here," Joseph assured her. His smile fell slightly when Jamie gave him a quizzical look in regard to his comment. "That didn't make any sense, did it? Well, uh, we went grocery shopping today, so we've got some snacks if you're hungry, along with some Halloween candy left over from last night. Nick left us some money, too, if you want to order pizza or something."

"Pizza sounds awesome," Jamie said. "I feel like I've eaten nothing but ramen noodles for the last three months."

"Oh, I know that feeling," Joseph said, leading Jamie into the small kitchen and grabbing the phonebook off the table. "I remember one summer when I was younger I had to eat ramen for lunch every single day. To this day I still get nauseous if I even smell it." Joseph was pleased when this comment elicited a bark of laughter from Jamie. "So," he said, "where do you want to order from?"

"You ever had Lil' Bella's?"

"Mmm, don't think so. The only pizza I've had in Zootopia was Judy's and LaGrotto's. Are they pretty good?"

"Oh, yeah," the bunny assured him. "They have the best cheese I've ever had on a pizza."

"Good enough for me," Joseph said, and proceeded to find the name in the phonebook and dial the number.

After placing the order for a large pizza with extra cheese and an order of mozzarella sticks, Joseph placed his phone on the table. "So," Joseph said, "what do you want to do? Judy convinced Nick to get Netflix last week, so we should have a pretty good selection of movies. Or, I think Judy has some board games in the closet down the hall, if you wanna do that."

Jamie's ears went up at "board games". "Ooh, do you know if she has Scrabble?"

"Let's go find out."

Sure enough, the closet bore an old beat-up edition of Scrabble, along with Trouble, Chutes & Ladders, Zoopoly, and Yahtzee. Jamie said that the Scrabble board was actually the one she and Judy had played with back in Bunnyburrow.

"You might have to help me a little," Joseph explained as he set up the board on the living room table. "It's been years since I played this."

"I'll do what I can," Jamie said. "Just don't expect me to go easy on you. I was the Scrabble Champion at Bunnyburrow Middle School three years running."

"Oh, yeah?" Joseph said, puffing out his chest dramatically. "Well I got third place in the eighth-grade spelling bee at Lincoln Junior High, so there."

Jamie let out a snort of laughter and fell back into the recliner. "Joseph, I swear, you are _too_  cute sometimes."

"You wouldn't think that if you heard my Gollum impression," Joseph claimed as he stretched himself out on the couch, silently hoping that Jamie didn't notice the rise in his pulse at the word "cute".

Jamie almost spit out the grape soda she was sipping on. "Oh, please, I have  _got_  to hear that."

"If you insist." Joseph leaned forward and made a show of preparing himself. Then, hunching himself over and acting like he was holding something small in his paws, he spoke from the back of his throat. " _Myyyyy prrreeecccioussss,_ " he drawled. " _My own, my love, my own, myyy preciousssssss…"_

Jamie burst out laughing at the sheer excellence of Joseph's impersonation. In response, he turned towards her, his eyes bugging out, his hands held loosely in front of him like claws. " _What is it laughing at, precious?_ " he gurgled. " _Is it laughing at us? Gollum! Gollum!"_  Joseph made an exaggerated gagging motion and made a display of reaching for the bottle of water on the coffee table.

"Stop, stop!" Jamie begged through the laughter. "Stop, or I'm gonna break a rib!"

Joseph aggressively cleared his throat and downed the entire bottle of water in one go. "Pretty good, huh?" he said.

"Oh, my gosh, that was excellent," Jamie said, wiping tears from her eyes. "Oh, I haven't laughed like that in ages."

"Well, I'm glad I could be of service," Joseph said, then coughed. "Even if it was at the cost of my vocal cords."

As the last of her laughter subsided, Jamie leaned forward and grabbed the game rules out of the box. "All right," she said, "let's get this party started. And prepare to have your tail whooped."

"We'll see about that," Joseph said.

Jamie, as it turned out, had more than earned the right of Scrabble Champion at Bunnyburrow Middle School. By the time the pizza arrived, Joseph's best word was "ladle" with a double letter score, and Jamie had already gotten two triple-word scores and two double letters. By the end of the third game, Joseph was beginning to wonder if she had somehow rigged the board.

" _Zeitgeist?_ " Joseph exclaimed through a mouthful of cheese sticks. "What the heck is a zeitgeist? Is that even English?"

"'Zeitgeist'," Jamie said, reading out of the beat-up Scrabble dictionary, "'the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time.' It's originally a German word that loosely translates as 'time ghost'."

"Ridiculous," Joseph said, putting down the word "girth". "Foreign words shouldn't be acceptable."

"They're perfectly acceptable so long as they've been properly integrated into the English lexicon," Jamie stated proudly. "Ooh, 'lexicon'!" she shouted excitedly. "32 points with the double word score!"

"OH, COME ON!"

"That's all my letters," Jamie said, sitting back in satisfaction. "Looks like I win again."

"Fine!" Joseph said, throwing his paws up in the air. He made a mock gesture of worship towards Jamie. "I bow before the superiority of the Great Scrabble Queen."

"As well you should," Jamie said with a snicker. "Wanna play another game?"

"If you want to," Joseph replied, clearing his words off the board. "I'm cool with just about anything, so long as it's with you."

Jamie stopped partway through putting her letter tiles back in the bag, startled slightly by Joseph's comment. "Oh," she said, her cheeks burning slightly. "Well, that's… really sweet of you."

Joseph could feel the heat rising into his own cheeks as he realized that he'd spoken his thoughts out loud—again. "Sorry," he said, trying to avoid eye contact. "I didn't mean to make things weird, or, or awkward, or anything—"

"No, no, it's fine," Jamie reassured him. "I, um, I kind of feel the same way about you."

It took Joseph a couple seconds to fully register what she'd just said. "You—you do?" he managed to stutter out.

"Yeah," Jamie said, a bashful expression on her face. "I really like hanging out with you, Joseph."

"Th-thanks," Joseph responded, doing his best to keep the nervous tremor out of his voice. He was beginning to think that maybe what Judy had said to him this morning wasn't too far off the mark. "Um, why?" he asked suddenly.

Jamie looked up and met Joseph's amber eyes, a puzzled look on her face. "Why what?" she asked.

"Why do you like hanging out with me?" Joseph answered. "I'm not trying to be rude or anything, I just—I don't really get it. Why would someone like you enjoy spending time with someone like me?"

"What do you mean, 'someone like me'? Joseph, what are you talking about?"

Joseph let out a breath, unsure how best to explain. "I just don't really understand why someone as…amazing as you would want to hang out with someone as messed up as I am. I guess I just feel like..,I don't know, like I'm not really worthy of being your friend."

"What?" Jamie asked incredulously. "Joseph, come on! I hang out with you because I like you as a person, because you're a  _good person_. You're kind, and caring, and funny, and brave, and se-" Jamie barely managed to stop herself from uttering the word " _sexy_ ". She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry, and hoped Joseph hadn't noticed her slip. "And I...I just feel happy and at ease when I'm around you. Especially after…you know, that night."

Joseph looked pensively at Jamie for a moment, then lowered his eyes and shook his head. "I'm sorry," he said, "I don't mean to make things weird. It's just hard for me to understand."

"Well, what would I have to say to get you out of this self-deprecating mindset and convince you that I genuinely like you?"

Joseph once again blurted out his response as soon as it entered his head, except this time there was no going back once it was out. "Do you want to go to dinner with me sometime?" he asked quickly, his words nearly running together.

Jamie was taken aback by the question, her blue eyes widening in surprise. "D-dinner?" she stuttered. "You mean like…like a date?"

Joseph gulped before responding, his heart rate quickening by the second. What had he gotten himself into? "I mean, if…if you want it to be, yeah." He could barely speak for the tremor in his voice.

Jamie cast her eyes down, her cheeks and ears burning hotly.  _He asked me out,_ she thought silently to herself, her mind little more than a haze of static.  _Holy crap, he actually asked me out_. "I, um…I…" she seemed to have lost her ability to form a coherent sentence.

"It's okay if you don't want to," Joseph assured her in a semi-panicked voice. "In fact, just—forget I said anything. It was a silly sugg—"

"Yes," Jamie blurted out suddenly.

Joseph stopped mid-sentence. "Yes what?" he asked stupidly.

Jamie clasped her caramel-and-cream paws in front of her, a shy smile making its way across her face. "Yes, I would love to go out to dinner with you sometime." Wanting to make sure he understood, she quickly added, "As...as a date."

"Oh," Joseph said, his mind suddenly blank. "Okay. Awesome,"

"Where, um-where did you have in mind?"

"I don't know," Joseph said with a shrug, a completely dumbfounded look on his face. "I never thought I'd get this far."

Jamie let out a giggle at the expression on Joseph's face. She found it almost unbearably adorable-and just a little bit sexy. "Well," she said, "I'm free on Saturday night. Do you think you can have something figured out by then?"

"Yeah, definitely," Joseph said. "I'll, uh, I'll make sure to call you and let you know what's going on."

"Sounds good." Jamie flitted her eyes around the living room, as if desperately searching for something to fill the sudden awkward silence between them. "Well," she said, beginning to rise from her seat, "I should probably get going. I have a chemistry test tomorrow, and I don't want to be up too late, so…"

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Joseph said, awkwardly rising to his feet as well. "Um, thanks for coming over tonight. I had a lot of fun."

"Thanks for having me," Jamie said, grabbing her jacket from the rack next to the door. "I really needed this, Joseph." Before she could lose her nerve, Jamie walked over to where Joseph stood and wrapped him in a quick hug, releasing him before he had time to return it. "I'll, uh, see you on Saturday, I guess."

"Yeah," Joseph said. "I'll make sure to call you with the details." As he reached past her to grasp the doorknob, a thought occurred to him. "Do you want me to call you a cab? It's a little late to be walking home alone."

"I'll be fine, Joseph," Jamie assured him. "There's a bus stop a couple blocks down the road. But thanks, though." As she was about to walk out the door, she turned around and gave Joseph a quick, light peck on the cheek. "Have a good night, Joseph," she barely more than whispered.

Joseph had to gulp before he responded. "You too, Jamie. Be safe."

"I always am," she said, turning and beginning to walk down the silent hall. When she reached the stairwell, she turned one last time and gave Joseph a little wave, which he promptly returned. Joseph watched her continue on down the stairs until she was lost from his view, then silently retreated into the apartment.

As he closed the door behind him, the biggest smile in the history of creation spread across Joseph's face. "YES!" he shouted, pumping his fist in the air. Then, as the euphoria of what had just happened reached his brain, Joseph felt the ground rushing towards him as he fell face-forward in a dead faint, the joy of the night overcoming him at last.


	21. Bella Notte

"It's a little flashy, don't you think?" Joseph asked, adjusting the sports jacket so that it fit more comfortably on his narrow shoulders. "I mean, I'm going for 'devilishly handsome fox', not 'flamboyant peacock'."

"Who says the two are mutually exclusive?" Nick said from behind him. He was wearing a lemon-yellow Hawaiian shirt and a blue striped tie, along with his characteristic sly-fox expression. Joseph could have sworn he was checking himself out in the mirror they were both facing. "I managed to catch Carrots by wearing the loudest outfit every brought into existence."

"Oh, please," Joseph responded, shrugging the bright blue jacket from his shoulders. "According to Judy,  _she's_  the one that caught  _you_. And it was with tax evasion, not a Hawaiian shirt."

"Apples and oranges, bud," Nick responded, handing the fox another sports jacket, this one a rich caramel brown and made of corduroy. "Here, see how this one looks. I think it matches Jamie's fur."

Joseph quickly slipped himself into the garment, raising his arms and rolling his shoulders to see how well it fit him. "Feels pretty good," he said, examining himself in the department store mirror. "Doesn't look half bad, either. What do you think?"

"I do believe we have a winner!" Nick proclaimed. "It'll go really well with that blue plaid shirt."

"Awesome," Joseph said, gently shrugging off the jacket. As he was placing it back on the hanger, his eyes caught the price tag dangling from the right cuff. "Holy… _a hundred and seventy-nine dollars?!_ Yeah, no, that's way too much, I'm going to have to find something else." Joseph made a move to toss the jacket into the "no" pile, but was stopped by Nick.

"Oh, no you don't!" the reynard said. "This is your first date we're talking about here, and first impressions are everything. You can't put a price on that."

"I beg to differ," said Joseph. "$179 is the  _sale_ price, Nick. I can't ask you to pay for that!"

"You don't have to, Joseph. You're going on your first date  _ever_ tonight, and I want you to look your best. Besides, I still have some money squirrelled away from the old pawpsicle business."

"No," Joseph said, shaking his head. "I've already taken too much charity from you guys, I can't—"

"Joseph,  _please_ ," Nick said, placing his paw on his son's shoulder, his voice suddenly raw and vulnerable, all the sarcasm and wit gone. "Just...let me do this for you, okay? When I was growing up, I didn't have anyone to help me with this kind of thing, no one there to guide me and tell me how to behave around a girl I liked. Just…just let me be here for you, okay bud?"

Joseph simply looked at Nick for a second, somewhat shocked by his sudden vulnerability. "Okay," he said at last, "since you had to go and say it like that. Just don't blame me when you're eating nothing but dollar-menu deals from Bugga Burger for the next month."

Nick's sly smirk returned to his face. "And don't you forget to thank me when you come home tonight reeking of rabbit love."

"Shut  _up_ ," Joseph said, giving Nick a playful shove. "You know Judy would kill you if she heard you say that about her little sister."

"Well, fortunately for us, our bunnies are over at Nordstrom's figuring out which outfit Jamie should wear to make your eyes roll back into your head tonight, so they can't hear our perverted man-talk."

"She's not  _my_  bunny," Joseph said, gathering up the clothes in the "no" pile and placing them back on their racks. "Not yet, anyway. And she could show up to dinner wearing nothing but a giant tube sock as a dress and my eyes would still roll back in my head."

"I'm going to remember that image the next time I'm feeling sad, because that is just hilarious," Nick said with a toothy grin, picking up the sports jacket, dress shirt, and slacks that he was going to purchase. "Now let's go check out."

With the late-afternoon traffic in downtown Zootopia, it ended up being a nearly 40-minute drive from the Mammal's Warehouse department store back to the apartment. While the two foxes were waiting for the cars ahead of them to move, Nick thought he'd make some small talk.

"So," Nick began, drumming his fingers lightly on the steering wheel, "how are you feeling about tonight, buddy? Excited, nervous, nauseatingly terrified?"

Joseph glanced over at his father in the driver's seat. "Honestly?" he said. "Probably the third one." He slouched in his seat and let out a sigh.

"I know exactly how you feel, buddy," Nick said reassuringly. "I think I must have eaten about three rolls of Tums before taking Judy out on our first date. When I saw her in that purple dress the first time, I was so nervous and excited I thought I was going to throw up on her."

Joseph let out a snort of laughter, but then his face fell again. "This is different, though," he said, a glum edge to his voice. "You'd dated before Judy, but this is all new to me. You'd been her best friend for over a year, and I've only known Jamie a few weeks." Joseph placed his paw on his forehead, another, heavier sigh escaping his lips. "God, I'm just so terrified about tonight."

"Well, what is it that has you so scared?" Nick asked, switching out his sarcastic tone for a sincere one. "I mean, it's just a date, bud, it's not like you're proposing to her."

"Yeah, but it's a date with  _Jamie_ ," Joseph stated emphatically, as if this explained everything. "She's so…perfect, and I'm…well, I'm me. I guess I'm just scared that halfway through dinner she's going to realize how much better she can do and walk out on me."

"She wouldn't do that, not if she's anything like Carrots, which she is. Even if things don't totally work out tonight, she's still gonna want to be your friend."

"I hope so. I'm just…so scared that I'm going to screw everything up tonight." Joseph turned his head and looked mournfully out the window, watching the traffic crawl by. "I just want to make her happy."

"And  _that_ ," Nick said, "is why I think you're going to do great tonight. Because you're more concerned about her enjoyment than your own. Every girl, no matter what species, loves a guy who is selfless like that, who puts her ahead of himself. And that's not just a part of you, Joseph, it's your defining characteristic. No matter what, you always,  _always_  put others before yourself. Jamie knows that, and I think that's why she likes you so much."

"You really think she likes me?" Joseph asked.

Nick turned to his friend with an expression of  _Seriously, dude?_  "Joseph," he said dryly, "my Great Uncle Marvin would have been able to tell that that girl is crazy about you, and he was blind and deaf. The only reason you can't see it is because you're in the middle of it. I went through the same thing with Judy. I couldn't even begin to fathom why she would be into a shifty ex-conman like me, but on our first date, she said she'd been dropping hints like bombs for the past month. I couldn't read the signs on the road because I was too busy thinking about the destination. So, don't worry about it, bud." He laid a comforting paw on Joseph's shoulder. "You like her, she likes you, and you guys are going to have a great time tonight. You've just got to stop fighting your feelings and…let it flow. Don't be afraid to tell her how you feel, because she probably feels the exact same way. Just…let go, and let the waves take you where they will."

"Aye, aye, Captain," Joseph said, giving Nick a mock salute. After a few moments, he said, "Thanks, Nick. Thanks for being here for me for this."

"You know it, bud," Nick said, tousling the fur on top of Joseph's head playfully. "Always."

* * *

 _Deep breaths,_ Joseph thought to himself as he continued to trudge up the steps of the Grand Pangolin Arms.  _Calm down, deep breaths. You like her, she likes you...probably. Maybe. Actually, it's probably just pity…_ The fox quickly shook the negative thoughts from his mind, ascending the final step to Jamie's floor. When he stood in front of her apartment door, he checked his watch, doing his best to normalize his breathing.

 _7:05,_  he thought.  _Fashionably late._ He did a quick once-over of himself, making sure his clothes were straight. He was wearing the corduroy sports jacket from Mammal's Warehouse over a baby-blue plaid dress shirt, the edges hanging untucked over the waistband of his black slacks. Not having a tie, Joseph had left the top button of the shirt undone—a style which Nick insisted also revealed a tantalizing tuft of Joseph's snow-white chest fur. Taking one last deep breath, he tucked his left paw, clutching a bouquet of tulips and irises, behind his back, raised his right paw, and swiftly knocked four times on the door. A few seconds later, the door swung open, and Joseph saw his date for the first time.

He silently prayed that his sudden intake of breath hadn't been too obvious. Jamie stood there in the dim hallway light, her ears hanging loosely behind her head, her caramel fur gleaming and smelling of strawberry shampoo. She was dressed simply but elegantly, wearing a high-cut sundress patterned with autumn leaves that stretched down to just above her ankles, barely showing the cuffs of the black tights she was wearing beneath, meant to stave off the November chill outside. Her arms and shoulders were bare, but in her paws, she loosely grasped the red leather jacket she'd worn to his house the other night. Two thin golden bracelets encircled each of her wrists, and gleaming at the base of her throat was a pendant on a thin golden chain. The pendant contained a small, orange-toned gemstone that looked to Joseph like a piece of fossilized amber. The way the stone caught the light almost gave the impression that it was glowing from within, and the combinations of red, gold, and brown made by her ensemble caused the sky-blue color of Jamie's eyes to pop like the first stars in the evening sky.

She looked like an angel.

"Hey, Joseph," Jamie said lightly, a smile grazing her lips.

"Hi," Joseph squeaked. He felt his mouth go dry as the increasingly familiar carnal fire flitted through his chest at the sight of Jamie, and he suddenly found himself vividly remembering the way it had felt when she had sat in his arms the night of the storm, the warmth of her body against his, the sound of her heavily beating heart, the feeling of his nose in the crook of her neck...

Realizing where his thoughts were headed, the fox did his best to push them away and focus on Jamie's sky-blue eyes, the one part of her that his mind could only see as beautiful and pure. Before he could think to stop himself, he blurted out, "My God, you're beautiful."

Jamie immediately cast her eyes downward, her adorable buck teeth nervously biting her bottom lip as a blush crept into her cheeks and ears. "Thank you," she said, raising her eyes once again to Joseph's. "You look very handsome yourself, Joseph."

Joseph's heart fluttered in nervousness. "Thanks," he squeaked out shakily. Then, remembering that he was the one that was supposed to be leading this date, he pulled the bouquet of flowers from behind his back, showing them to the bunny. "These are for you," he said, trying to steady his voice.

"Oh, Joseph, they're beautiful!" Jamie said, gently taking the flowers from him. As she took them, her paw briefly brushed against Joseph's, sending a jolt of electricity through his arm. "That's so sweet. I just wish I had a vase I could put them in."

"Oh, that's okay."

The rabbit smiled radiantly at him. "I'll just set these on my nightstand and we can get going, okay?" She swiftly turned and went back into the apartment, gently setting Joseph's flowers right next to her replica of Beast's enchanted rose. As she turned and walked back toward him, she shrugged on her jacket, gently shutting and locking the door behind her. "Ready?" she asked.

"That I am," Joseph responded, extending his right elbow out for Jamie to take. "Shall we?"

The bunny batted her eyes as she laced her arm in his. "Such a gentleman," she said, carefully matching the fox's steps as they made their way down the stairwell. "So, where are we headed tonight, Mr. Wilde?"

"Well, Miss Hopps," Joseph said, his voice finally evening out, "Nick suggested a delightful little restaurant in Sahara Square called Bella Notte. There's a Zuber waiting for us outside."

"That sounds lovely," Jamie purred, pressing herself ever so slightly closer to Joseph. "I can't wait."

 _Neither can I,_  Joseph thought.

* * *

The Italian restaurant called Bella Notte was, indeed, delightful and little, situated between a small post office and Sahara Savings Bank on the upper west side of Sahara Square, the neon lights of the Palm Hotel lighting up the sky in the distance. When Jamie and Joseph walked in, once again arm-in-arm, they were greeted by a well-groomed ferret in a tuxedo who promptly led them to a table in the far back corner of the restaurant. After handing them their menus and lighting a single red taper in the center of the table, he scurried off to fetch their server.

"Wow," Jamie said once they were alone. "This place is gorgeous."

"I know, right?" Joseph responded, picking up his menu and taking a quick glance at it. "I love the ambiance." And he did, too. The space was dimly lit with a red candle at each occupied table, the ceiling dotted with small stained-glass lamps that cast a soft light over the patrons. The smell of cheese and wine drifted through the air, accompanied by the light classical music that played softly from the speakers set into the ceiling. It was a very peaceful place.

A few minutes later, an aardvark in a white shirt and bowtie with an apron wrapped around his waist approached the table. "Hi, folks," he said in a slightly squeaky voice that suggested that he was in his mid-to-late teens. "My name is Arthur, and I will be your server this evening. Can I start you guys off with something to drink?"

"Just water for me, please," Joseph said politely.

"I'll have a water with lemon," Jamie told him.

"Very good," Arthur said, scribbling on his notepad. "I will be right back with those." He swiftly turned and walked back towards the kitchen.

"So," Jamie said, studying her menu, "what are you gonna get?"

"Well, it's been about three years since I've had a good shrimp alfredo, so I don't think I can pass that up."

A tiny giggle escaped Jamie's lips. "Nice," she said with a smile. "I think I'm just going to get a Caesar salad. I don't want to break your bank too much."

"You can order something more if you want," the fox assured her. "I don't mind paying. It's technically Nick's money, anyway."

Jamie let out an adorable snort of laughter. "That's okay. I don't want to eat too much. I was actually thinking, if you wanted to…" She set her menu down and folded her paws on the table, making eye contact with Joseph. "Judy once told me about this dance club in Tundratown called Verdant that's really low-key. No fog machines or seizure-inducing strobe lights, only plays classic rock and pop, family-owned. Does that sound like something you'd like to do, after dinner?"

Joseph smiled at Jamie, glad she had made the suggestion. He had initially planned on taking her for a walk along the lakefront, but this sounded like more fun, and something he knew Jamie would enjoy. "That sounds great," he said.

"Cool," Jamie responded as Arthur returned to the table, their drinks resting on a platter in his left paw.

"Hold on," Joseph said suddenly, "they don't play disco at this club, do they?"

Jamie thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No, I don't think so."

"Oh, thank God," Joseph responded with a sigh, taking a sip of his water. "'Cause I swear, if I so much as hear someone  _mention_  the unholy atrocity that is 'I Will Survive', I  _will_ throw myself into Zootopia Sound." The comment earned a laugh from Jamie, which caused her nose to crinkle up adorably and simultaneously set Joseph's heart racing.

After the waiter had served their drinks, he whipped out his notebook once again. "Now, are you two ready to order?"

As they had said, Joseph ordered the shrimp fettucine alfredo, and Jamie got the Caesar salad. About five minutes later, Arthur returned to the table, setting a basket of warm garlic breadsticks before them. "On the house," he insisted, giving Joseph a friendly wink.

"I love that pendant you're wearing," Joseph said in an attempt to make small talk. "It, uh...it really brings out your eyes."

"Oh, thank you!" the bunny replied, her ears reddening a bit at the compliment. Trying to avoid Joseph's deep amber eyes out of nervousness, she glanced down to the bauble in question, pensively rubbing it between her thumb and forefinger. "It's actually a family heirloom. Been in the Hopps clan for...y'know, I don't think anyone actually knows how old it is."

"Really?" the fox said, not having to feign interest. "Huh, that's odd. Do you know what kind of gemstone it is? It kind of reminds me of amber, but I've never seen amber catch the light like that."

"I'm not sure," Jamie said, continuing to fondle the pendant mindlessly. She could swear she felt the mysterious gemstone warming up as the conversation went on-though it might have just been her own nervousness. "I know that it's special, though. When I wear it, I almost feel...I don't know, connected, I guess. To the bunnies that came before me." The rabbit quickly flitted her eyes to those of her date, searching them for any trace of condescension, and was pleased when she found none. "Is that...weird?" she asked him.

"No, not at all," Joseph answered her honestly. "It really suits you, Jamie."

"Because it's strange and mysterious?" she teased.

"I was gonna go with 'heavenly', but-" The reynard's eyes widened slightly as he saw Jamie's ears, suddenly bright red, go straight up at the compliment.

"Th-thank you, Joseph," Jamie said quietly, her cheeks burning yet again. "That's very sweet of you."

"It's true," the fox barely more than whispered before he could stop himself. Mortified by his second slip-up within seconds, he immediately focused his eyes on the table and began intently chewing on a breadstick. Jamie, not knowing what else to say, followed suit.

After several minutes of the pair silently nibbling on the breadsticks, Jamie decided to speak up. "Hey, can I ask you a question?" she asked.

"Yeah, of course."

"It's just…" Jamie absentmindedly scratched herself behind her ear, wondering how best to phrase her thoughts. "You seem a little bit, I don't know...skittish tonight, and I was wondering…" She paused briefly, pursing her lips before she continued. "Joseph, is this your first date?"

Joseph's glass of water stopped halfway to his lips. He slowly lowered it back to the table before responding. "Yeah," he admitted. "I mean, kind of. I've kind of been on a date, but not really."

"What do you mean?" Jamie asked, confused. "Was it a date or not?"

"I thought it was at the time," Joseph said, staring down into his glass. "Not so much in hindsight."

"What happened?"

"Well, I was a freshman in high school, and there was this girl I'd had a massive crush on since sixth grade. Melissa was her name. One of the few people I would have considered a friend—she was always really nice to me, never made fun of me like everyone else. Anyway, when I was a freshman, I got up the courage to ask her to the homecoming dance at school."

"Did she say yes?"

"Yeah, surprisingly," Joseph said. "So, you know, we texted back and forth for a few weeks, made plans for where we were going to dinner before the dance, she showed me the dress she'd bought, and we decided we were going with a group of her friends. I was really excited."

"So, what happened?" Jamie asked, leaning her chin into her paw. "Why wasn't that a date?"

"Well, we went to one of her friends' houses out in the country to take pictures, and this guy named Edgar showed up. Popular guy, I'd kinda-sorta known him since third grade. So, he comes up the hill towards us, walks up to Melissa, and puts a red corsage on her wrist, right next to the one I gave her." The fox shrugged his shoulders in an expression of  _What can you do?_  "Evidently, Edgar was her other date, aaaand…she hadn't seen fit to tell me."

Jamie sat there in silent shock for a second. "Oh, my  _God!_ " she exclaimed. "That's horrible!"

Joseph simply shrugged again. "I didn't really mind at the time," he said. "I was just excited to be around her. I guess I just misunderstood how we were supposed to be organized."

"Still," Jamie insisted, "that seems a little cruel, leading you on like that and then turning around to be with another guy."

"Oh, she wasn't with him," the fox said. "They weren't a thing. Morning after the dance, I went on Facebook and saw that she was in a relationship with some guy named Brandon."

Jamie's jaw dropped. " _Jeez_ ," she said. "God, Joseph, I'm sorry. That must have really sucked for you." Almost unconsciously, she reached across the table to place her right paw gently on top of Joseph's left, where it was resting next to his glass.

As soon as she touched him, Joseph's senses went into overdrive. He hoped his expression didn't betray how much excitement was coursing through him at Jamie's touch. Slowly, and ever so gently, Joseph turned his left paw over so that his fingers gently cupped Jamie's, the tips of his claws just barely grazing her skin, sending an invisible shiver up her arm. She gave Joseph's fingers a little squeeze, causing his heart rate to accelerate.

"Thanks," Joseph said quietly. "It's not that big of a deal, though. I've had bigger things to worry about since then."

"Yeah," Jamie said, her tone as soft as that of her date. "I guess you have." After a moment, she reached her other paw across the table and more firmly grasped Joseph's. "I would never do that to you," she said tenderly.

Joseph raised his eyes to Jamie's, feeling the tears beginning to press against them, the way they always did when she spoke to him like this. "I know you wouldn't," he whispered.

The remainder of dinner passed smoothly and quietly. Once the food arrived, the pair ate slowly, savoring every bite, along with the small talk they were sharing. They discussed their interests, favorite books and movies, what kinds of music they liked to listen to, and talked about their homes. Eventually, the conversation turned to Jamie's studies to be a CSI.

"I've got to ask," Joseph asked, twirling his fork into his pasta, "what made you want to go into forensics? From what Judy tells me, most of your family are farmers."

"Oh, they are," Jamie said affirmatively. "But I grew up around Judy and her passion for justice and 'making the world a better place', so that was a big part of it. That, and…" She stopped, a sheepish expression suddenly crossing her face. "Never mind, it's too weird."

"Too weird for me?" Joseph asked, a disbelieving expression on his face. "Would you like me to remind you of the gene splicing or the brainwashing?"

"Point taken," Jamie said with a smile. "It's just that, when I was in junior high and high school, I had kind of a…really weird fascination. My parents absolutely hated it."

"Well, what was it?"

The bunny stared sullenly into her glass, then raised her gaze to the fox across from her, squinting as though preparing for a blow. "I had a thing for studying serial killers."

Joseph's eyebrows went up. "Really?" he asked. "You, Jamie Hopps, had a thing for serial killers?"

"It wasn't a  _thing,_ " she insisted. "I just…really liked reading about them, trying to understand how their minds work. There was a time after I started watching  _Criminal Minds_ when I was sure I wanted to be a profiler for the ZBI."

"Everybody wants to be a profiler once they start watching  _Criminal Minds_ , Jamie," the fox stated matter-of-factly.

The rabbit let out a laugh. "Good point. But once I started studying chemistry, I decided I'd rather go into forensics. It's a lot more analytical, and doesn't get quite as dark as profiling can."

"Well," Joseph said with a genuine smile, "I wish you the best of luck in your efforts to catch the bad guys." He raised his glass in a toast.

"Hear, hear," Jamie said, clinking her glass to his. "So," Jamie said, taking another bite of salad, "what were your plans? I mean, you know, before everything happened?"

"Oh, I'm not telling you that," Joseph said with a playful smile, popping an alfredo-coated shrimp into his mouth. "You'll laugh."

"I promise I won't laugh," she said. "Unless you tell me you wanted to be a clown. In which case, laughter is kind of the point."

"You'll think I'm weird," Joseph insisted.

"No, I won't. Come on, just tell me."

Joseph studied the noodles and white sauce on his plate for a moment, then quickly rushed out his answer so as to get it over with.

"I wanted to be a priest," he muttered.

Silence.

The fox looked up and saw that the bunny's eyebrows had shot into her forehead, a look of surprise on her face. "See?" he said, indicating her expression with his fork. "You think it's weird."

"No, no!" Jamie insisted, regaining her voice. "I don't think it's  _weird_ , I just…didn't expect it, is all. I mean…can I ask why you wanted to do that?"

Joseph shrugged. "Part of it was that I felt like it was what I was supposed to do. A calling, you know? From Him." He pointed quickly to the ceiling, indicating who was making the call. "But part of it was because…well, I think I was a lot like Judy when I was younger. I saw all the pain and suffering in the world, knew it myself, and all I wanted to do was make it better. I figured, what better way to save the world than to literally lead people to salvation—to something better?" Joseph smiled with fondness at the memories of his younger, more innocent self, saying a pretend mass at his bedroom dresser, practicing preaching from a random section of the Bible, offering advice to a penitent in confession.

"There was this one poem that really summed it up for me, I guess," he stated, his eyes far away. "It's called 'Thou Art A Priest Forever'."

"How's it go?" Jamie asked, leaning forward attentively.

Joseph was silent for a moment, and then began to recite the poem from memory. " _To live in the midst of the world without wishing its pleasures, to be a member of each family yet belonging to none,_   _to share all sufferings; to know all secrets;_   _to heal all wounds; to go from men to God_   _and offer Him their prayers; to return from God to men_   _to bring pardon and hope; to have a heart of fire for charity_ ,  _and a heart of bronze for chastity;_   _to teach and to pardon, to console and bless always—My God, what a life. And it is yours,_   _O Priest of Jesus Christ._

"That's all I ever really wanted to do," the fox said, idly twirling his fork around in his pasta, his eyes downcast. "To be the face of love and compassion and mercy to those who had no hope. To be the one who stood by them at the most important times of their life. To be the man that...held a person's hand as they slipped from this world to the next, and tell them that everything's going to be alright."

After several moments of silence, Joseph looked up from his plate to see that Jamie was staring at him, wide-eyed, her ears lying flat against the base of her skull, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

"Are you okay?" Joseph said, immediately concerned.

In response, Jamie simply shook her head slowly, and once again reached across the table to clasp both of Joseph's paws in her own, much more tightly this time. " _You_ ," she said hoarsely, as if struggling to get the words out, "are an  _incredible_ man, Joseph Wilde. Don't you ever,  _ever_  let anyone tell you that you're not. Because I've heard a lot of people say some very heartfelt things, but I have  _never_  heard anything quite like that."

After a second of dumbfounded silence at the bunny's words, Joseph simply said, "I don't know how to respond to that," The comment elicited a slightly tearful giggle from Jamie.

"You don't have to," she said. "Just keep being the amazing person you are." She pursed her lips, pausing. "Did you… still want to do that? Be a priest one day?"

Now it was Joseph's turn to let out a snort of laughter. "Oh, no," he said definitively. "I'm not cut out for that anymore, not with my…condition. Anyway, I'm a high school dropout, and…I'm honestly not sure who or what I believe in anymore."

"So, what do you think you want to do now, if that's not an option?" she asked him curiously.

"I'm not sure," the fox answered. "I guess right now I'm just trying to find my place in this world. I'm taking it one day at a time."

Jamie smiled her biggest smile yet, and gave Joseph's paws one last reassuring squeeze. "I can understand that," she said. "I can understand that very well."


	22. In Verdant Pastures

Jamie was thankful for the frigid Tundratown air that cut through her jacket as she and Joseph exited the Zuber and made their way towards the dance club, her paw held tightly in his. She felt like she'd been in a state of near-constant blushing ever since Joseph had told her she was beautiful back at the apartment. The words had set her heart racing and sent a flutter through her stomach she'd never felt before, and she could see in the almost dumbfounded look of wonder on the fox's face that he'd meant what he said and said what he meant. It made her heart beat wildly to remember the way that he'd looked at her—like she was the only thing in the world he ever wanted to see.

As the pair walked through the front doors of Verdant and into the admittance area, the little brown bunny couldn't help but reflect on everything that had happened with Joseph over the last few weeks. They'd barely spoken at all the first time they met, but when she found out that he was essentially something out of a children's horror story, she'd felt oddly drawn to him, her heart aching that anyone could ever have gone through something so awful. When they'd skated together, she'd felt butterflies in her stomach in a way she'd never felt for a boy before, even over Tommy Nelson, the buck who had taken her to her junior prom...and also been her first. And then, there was the night of the storm…the way Joseph held her…the concern in his voice…the way he'd said that he would always stay with her… Even though that night gave her one of the worst panic attacks she had ever experienced, she couldn't help but feel that it was also one of the best nights of her life. Just because Joseph had been there with her.

And now, here she was, on her first date with him (and his first date ever), and she could feel herself growing closer to him by the minute. His story about homecoming had moved her, but the way he had spoken about wanting to be a priest, about wanting to be a light in the darkness for those without hope…Jamie knew it was selfish, but she couldn't help but hope that Joseph never went after that dream, because if he did, that would mean that he could never have a romantic relationship. And that would mean that whatever this was that was blooming between them right now wouldn't last. Even though it was only their first date, the thought of losing what she had with Joseph hit her like a punch in the gut.

The rabbit was awoken from her thoughts when her date had to physically pull her back so she didn't run face-first into the leg of the massive polar bear bouncer standing guard at the door of the club.

"I.D.," the massive animal boomed, staring down his snout at them.

Joseph quickly grabbed his wallet out of his back pocket while Jamie nervously sifted through the pocket inside her jacket. Eventually, both of them pulled out their I.D.s, lifting them high so that the bouncer could see them. After lazily running his watery blue eyes over the cards, he stretched out his arm and opened the massive door to Verdant.

"Enjoy your evening," the bear said dryly as they passed beneath his massive form.

When the couple entered the club, they were greeted by a small crowd of mammals, predator and prey alike, occupying a space that more closely resembled an enlarged sports bar than a dance club.

The interior of Verdant was probably a little less than a third the size of the average football field, the ceiling stretching fifty feet into the air to accommodate the taller patrons. The walls and floor were all hardwood, with a line of pale stained-glass windows circling the club halfway up the walls. Off to the right was a large, semi-crowded bar area, lit from behind by color-changing LEDs. Along the left wall of the building a dining/sitting area had been set up, complete with tables, chairs, booths, and even a few faux leather couches. The center of the club was occupied by a well-worn dance floor, while the back wall was dominated by a stage used by the bands that the club hired out every now and again, above which sat the plexiglass window of the DJ booth. The smell of sweaty mammals and spilled alcohol pervaded the air, but, all in all, the nightclub was much calmer than the ones Joseph had seen portrayed on television.

As soon as this thought entered his mind, he had to quickly scoot to the left to avoid being crushed by a semi-inebriated elephant that was dancing an erratic jig to Quilly Joel's "Only the Good Die Young", which was blaring loudly from the speakers hanging from the ceiling.

"That was close," Joseph said, trying to keep his distance from the prancing pachyderm. Just as he was about to ask Jamie if she wanted to find a table or head onto the dance floor, she spoke up.

"You wanna get a drink?" she asked.

Joseph gave her a look of confusion. "A drink?" he repeated. "What's the drinking age here, again?"

"Eighteen," she responded. "Why?"

"Oh," the fox said, surprised. "It's 21 where I come from. Yeah, sure, let's get a drink." She immediately grabbed his paw, tugging the vulpine towards the bar.

On the opposite side of the nightclub, seated at one of the faux-leather couches with a Blueberry Mojito Mocktail clutched loosely in his paw, another fox watched as the couple took their seat at the bar, and wondered to himself why fate had such an ironic sense of humor.

"You just had to tell her about Verdant, didn't you, Carrots?" Nick said.

The rabbit, who was dressed in a strapless blueberry-hued sundress, broke off her conversation with Officer Wolford, whom they had run into on their way into the club earlier, and turned to her boyfriend, seated on the couch next to her. "What are you talking about?" Judy said, her words beginning to slur ever so slightly from the half-finished Long Island Iced Tea in her paw.

In response, Nick merely jutted his chin outward, guiding Judy's attention towards the bar. When she looked, she saw the back of a very familiar caramel-colored form dressed in an autumn-toned sundress, accompanied by a fox in a corduroy sports coat.

"You've got to be kidding me," Judy said. "They came  _here?_ Joseph said they were going to go for a walk by the harbor!"

"And yet…" Nick said, allowing the end of the sentence to hang unsaid in the air.

Neither Nick nor Judy had told anyone that they were going out tonight, wanting Joseph and Jamie to be entirely focused on each other. Having been somewhat inspired by Joseph, Nick had thought that it was about time that he treated his bunny to a proper night of carefree fun, since this was one of the first nights in a while that they'd had off and were able to be alone. With everything that had happened lately, Nick knew the rabbit needed to let loose a little in a way that a fancy dinner or a movie couldn't provide. At the time, the fox could think of no better place to take Judy for a night on the town than his favorite Tundratown dance club, but now he was wondering if maybe it hadn't been the best idea.

"Who?" said Wolford, literally sticking his nose into the conversation. "Who's here that shouldn't be?"

"At ease, Mike," Nick said sarcastically, calling his fellow officer by his first name. "It's just Carrots' sister and her date."

"Oh," the wolf said, his defenses lowering automatically. "You guys wanna go over and say hello?"

"Absolutely not!" exclaimed Judy, staring daggers at the lupine. "This is their first date, and we are  _not_ ruining it for them."

"Calm down there, Carrots," Nick said, placing a placative paw on his bunny's bare shoulders. "I don't think they've seen us yet."

"Well, let's keep it that way," said Judy, taking another sip of her drink. "You spent twice as much on Joseph's outfit as I did on Jamie's, so this better go well for them."

"Oh, I don't think you have to worry about that, Carrots," Nick said, a sly edge creeping into his voice. "Take a look."

Judy turned to look at the bar, peering past a giraffe in the midst of doing the Charleston, and watched as Jamie and Joseph apparently made a toast to each other, clinking their respective bottles of beer together and taking a swig. She then saw her sister deftly fold her paw into Joseph's, leaning into him and momentarily snuggling up to his arm.

"That's my boy," Nick muttered slyly.

Judy didn't even attempt to slug Nick this time. Maybe she'd had a bit too much to drink, but she couldn't help but be genuinely happy that the two of them were definitely making a connection. She had to admit, she was even a little proud.

 _Go get 'em, tiger_ , she thought to herself.

* * *

Across the room, completely oblivious to the fact that he was being watched, Joseph took another sip of his beer, grimacing as it met his tongue. "Ugh," he said after he had swallowed the bitter liquid. "You actually like this stuff?"

"Not a beer fan, huh?" Jamie asked, looking up at him from where she rested against his arm. "Well, what do you like?"

"I don't know," Joseph said. "I've never had alcohol before. I'm really only used to water and sweet stuff, and tomato juice sometimes. And no," he said, pointing at his date, "I am  _not_ getting a Bloody Mary."

"You're such a wuss," she said playfully, releasing his paw and giving him a little shove. "Okay, so sweet. How do you feel about minty?"

"Mint's pretty good."

"Barkeep!" Jamie suddenly called, beckoning the aged polar bear over from the wall of booze. "Get this fox a Grasshopper, would you please?"

"Coming right up, sweetheart," the bartender said, turning around and beginning to gather his ingredients.

"You sure know a lot about drinks for such a sweet, innocent little bunny," Joseph said jokingly.

"Well," Jamie said, taking another swig of beer, "don't tell Judy, but I may have done a little bit of…'research' on the topic before I was  _technically_  of the legal age."

Joseph lifted his eyebrows. "Miss Hopps, I am scandalized! Are you hiding any other devious secrets from me?"

Jamie gave him a wicked grin. "Oh, Joey," she said, looking up at him through her lashes, "there's a  _lot_ you don't know about me."

"Well, I'd certainly like to," the fox responded, honestly but coyly. "Come on, I feel like I hardly know anything about your life."

"Okay," the bunny conceded. "Since you've let me see all the skeletons in your closet, I guess I could give you a little peek at mine."

"Lay it on me," Joseph challenged.

"Well," she said, "let's see…okay, here's a dirty little secret hardly anyone knows about me." She motioned for him to lean his head down, placing her lips right next to his ear and whispering to him. "I had my first kiss in tenth grade during a game of spin the bottle."

"Wow," Joseph said, pulling back, his cheek tingling where Jamie's fur had brushed his. "What was his name?"

The bunny's devilish grin widened even further, her sky-blue eyes gazing up at Joseph with an expression that could only be described as seductive. "Her name was Piper," she said with a wink.

The fox's jaw dropped. " _Oh, my God,_ " he exclaimed. "You landed on a girl and you still went through with it?"

Jamie shrugged. "Rules are rules. I spun the bottle, it landed on Piper. What can you do, you know?"

Before the fox had a chance to respond, the bartender had set a martini glass full of an opaque, pale green liquid in front of him, the minty scent of crème de menthe assaulting his nostrils. He gingerly grasped the glass and lifted it to his lips, taking a sip.

"Mmmm," the fox said. "That is good. That is  _really_  good."

"Ah, you have much to learn about the joys of booze, young grasshopper," Jamie cooed in a faux Asian accent.

"Was that a pun on the drink?" Joseph asked with a grin.

"No, but that works, too. Oh, you have a little…" She suddenly raised her paw to his muzzle, gently drawing her finger along his upper lip, sending jolts of electricity surging through his body and temporarily freezing him in place. When she drew back, her finger came away green. She slowly brought the finger to her own lips, licking the caramel fur free of the minty beverage. Seeing the look of open-mouthed astonishment plastered across Joseph's face, she burst into laughter.

"Oh, my God," she roared, wiping a tear from her eye, "I  _so_  wish you could see your face right now!"

Joseph just shook his head in amazement. "You are a wild one, Jamie Hopps."

"Oh, don't pretend you're not having fun, foxy boy," the rabbit responded slyly.

"I never said that. As it so happens, I haven't had this much fun in…actually, I don't think I've ever had this much fun before."

Jamie simply smiled at him, unsure of how to respond to the compliment. The beer was beginning to affect her quicker than she had thought. "Thank you," was all she said.

In reply, Joseph picked up his drink, raised it to Jamie, and took another gulp, bigger this time. "Dang, that's a good drink!" he said when he had pulled the glass away from his mouth.

Another burst of laughter shook the bunny's shoulders. "You know, since we're one the topic of 'wild ones' and having fun, I have to ask—what's the wildest thing you've ever done?"

"You mean, aside from, you know…" Joseph set his drink down and raised his paws, curling his lips back in a comically predatory expression. " _Grrr?_ " he growled, indicating his monstrous alter-ego.

"Yes, besides that," Jamie said with a smirk.

"Not a damn thing," the fox answered. "I was the most mind-numbingly boring person ever to set foot on planet Earth. Well, unless you count the game-bingeing."

"The game-bingeing?"

"Oh, yeah. I once sat in my room and played Skyrim for 18 consecutive hours, only getting up to go to the bathroom." Joseph momentarily stared off into space, apparently trying to remember. "I'm pretty sure I forgot to eat that weekend," he added absentmindedly.

Jamie smiled at him, doing her best to hold back the giggles. "That's…pretty wild," she said sarcastically.

"Like I said, most boring person alive." Joseph took another sip of the Grasshopper, the minty taste oddly refreshing.

"And what about  _your_  first kiss? Was that a wild time, too?"

In response, Joseph merely pursed his lips, his mood suddenly falling slightly as he was reminded of his own social ineptitude. "Well," he said, swirling his Grasshopper around in its glass, "the closest I ever got was at homecoming, and that's using the term 'close' pretty loosely, so…" The fox left the sentence unfinished.

Jamie's smile quickly dropped from her face as she realized what he was saying. With how much the pair had been enjoying themselves at the bar, she'd almost completely forgotten about what he'd told her about homecoming. "Oh," she said, embarrassed. "Oh, gosh, Joseph, I'm sorry, I—I totally forgot—"

"It's okay," Joseph assured her, though he was clearly still stung by the memory. "Don't worry about it."

Not really knowing what else to say, Jamie merely took another gulp of her beer, the two of them lapsing into an awkward silence.

Over in the sitting area, now sitting on the couch opposite Judy, Nick leaned forward and spoke to his girlfriend.

"He's still nervous," he said to her, breaking her concentration away from the plate of loaded nachos in front of her. "He still doesn't want to tell her."

"Tell her what?" the rabbit asked through a mouthful of chips. "They look like they're doing pretty well to me."

"He doesn't want to tell her how he feels," Nick explained. "He's afraid he'll mess things up with her. He'd rather just hang out with her as a friend than risk making things weird."

"Can Joseph really not see that she's into him?" Judy asked in disbelief.

"I think he's more concerned with making her laugh and showing her a good time than he is with making her like him. Joseph can't read the signs Jamie's giving him because he'd rather make her happy than make a move for himself."

"You really think so?"

"He told me as much earlier today."

"Wow," Judy said, finishing off her drink noisily. "That's really sweet."

"Yeah," the fox agreed, "but it might end up hurting both of them in the long run. Joseph's always going to feel a little bit dissatisfied because he thinks it would be selfish of him to make a real move, and Jamie's going to feel like Joseph doesn't really like her because he never really acts interested. The poor kid is playing it too cool for his own good."

"What are you thinking, Nick?"

"I think they both need a little push," he answered. "And I think I have an idea how to do that." He moved over to sit on Judy's couch, pulling her down below the back of the sofa so that neither Joseph nor Jamie would see them if they glanced over here. "Joseph mentioned that he likes classic rock, right?"

"Yeah," Judy replied. "So?"

"And so does Jamie?"

"Again, yes, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"You wouldn't happen to know if your sister likes REO Speedwagon, would you?" Nick asked, his sly grin beginning to creep onto his face.

"Yeah, it's one of her favorite bands, I think." Judy cocked her head curiously to the side. "What are you up to, Slick?"

Nick was now in full-on hustler mode. "I'm going to make a song request, Carrots," he said.

Judy slowly nodded her head as she began to understand her fox's plan. "Let me guess," she said, "you know the guy who owns this place?"

"Carrots, if I've told you once, I've told you a million times: I know everyone." Nick rose to his feet, checking quickly to make sure neither Joseph nor Jamie had seen him. However, they both seemed to have their eyes fixed on their drinks. Seeing that the coast was clear, Nick momentarily turned back to his girlfriend. "And besides," he said, placing a kiss on the soft gray fur between Judy's ears, "you  _are_  the godmother of his grandchild."

The bunny's eyes widened in realization. "Mr. Big owns Verdant?"

"Indeed he does, Carrots. I did some work for him here back in the day before the whole skunk-butt debacle. DJing, bartending, that sort of thing." He held his paw out to his girlfriend. "Want to see the DJ booth? See how your old fox used to kill it at a soundboard?"

Judy let out a snort of laughter. "You're so cute when you try to be cool, Nick," she said, allowing him to help her up and lead her to the door near the stage marked "employees only".

As soon as they had gone through the door, the pair were faced with the gigantic form of a lumbering polar bear in a black Armani suit blocking the stairway to the stage and DJ booth.

"Raymond!" Nick said, extending his arms outward in a welcoming gesture. "Long time, no see, eh, buddy?"

"Wilde," the bear growled down at him. "What do you want?"

"What, not even a hello for me, Ray?" Judy said, feigning a hurt tone.

Raymond immediately searched for the source of the voice, realizing that the bunny's form had been hidden by his immense belly. "Judy!" he exclaimed happily. "Good to see you again, bun!"

"Good to see you, too, Ray," the rabbit replied.

"What do you guys need?" the polar bear asked, much friendlier now that he knew Judy was here. "Looking for a good make-out spot? There's a pretty nice broom closet down the hall on the right."

Judy immediately felt her face ignite with heat at the bear's comment as Nick laughed nervously. "Heh heh heh,  _no_ , not today Ray. I just wanted to show Carrots here my old spot in the DJ booth, you know, give her the view from on high, maybe play a couple special songs for her…"

"You got it, Nick," Raymond said, stepping out of the way. "Go right on ahead. I'll radio Butch and tell him to give you two a little…privacy." He said the last word with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"You're the best, Raymond," Nick said, choosing to ignore the bear's innuendo, and led his bunny up the stairs.

The DJ booth was situated immediately to the left of the stage, near the top of the building. It was a decently large room (at least to Nick and Judy) furnished only with a few swivel chairs and a coffee table set up against the back wall, along with a massive sound system that controlled the club's music. A large plate-glass window looked down on the club below, giving the pair a perfect view of the entire area. They quickly spotted Joseph and Jamie, still sitting at the bar with their eyes trained forward, apparently still wrapped in their awkward silence.

"Alrighty," Nick said, approaching the massive soundboard. "Let's get this party started."

"What song are you gonna play for them?" Judy asked, utterly baffled by all the knobs and buttons her boyfriend was currently playing with.

"Oh, you'll see," Nick said ominously, typing the name of the song into the laptop attached to the soundboard. "And it's not just for them, Carrots. You'll like this, too, I guarantee it." He quickly moved the song from the bottom of the playlist to just after "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", which was currently playing through the club's speakers.

"Are you asking me to dance, Officer Wilde?" she asked, seductively sashaying her way over to where her fox stood.

"I certainly am, Officer Hopps," Nick replied, offering her his paw as the new song began.

Down on the floor, Joseph's sensitive ears swiveled in the direction of the nearest speakers as the first notes of the song began to float through the club. Having grown up with a mother whose life revolved around classic rock (usually mixed with vodka and Coke), he knew the song very well, and the irony of it playing in his current situation was not lost on him.

As the song's instrumental intro continued, Joseph turned to face the bunny at his side, and saw that her ears, too, were turned in the direction of the speakers, her head slowly beginning to move to the rhythm. When she saw that he was looking at her, she turned toward him, a gentle smile playing at the edges of her mouth.

"This is a really good song," she said. "One of my favorites."

"Yeah," Joseph agreed. "Me too."

In the space of a second, Joseph considered his options in his mind. Their date was, for all intents and purposes, going perfectly—with the exception of the slightly awkward silence of the last few minutes. Aside from that, however, everything both leading up to and including the date had gone better than Joseph ever could have hoped. Jamie had kissed him on the cheek twice before tonight, and, within the last hour, she'd told him that she thought he was an incredible person, and they had walked into the nightclub with their paws entwined, Jamie's thumb tracing tiny circles on his palm that sent shivers through his whole body. And now, a song that described what was happening inside him  _to the letter_  was playing over the speakers of the nightclub, as though someone up above was watching him and spurring him onward

If there was ever a moment for him to take the plunge, it was now.

Before he could lose his nerve, Joseph grabbed his glass, downing the remainder of the Grasshopper in one gulp, and turned to his date. "Do you want to dance?" he asked her.

Almost immediately, the bunny's smile widened, and she began to slide off of her barstool, offering her paw to Joseph. "I thought you'd never ask," she said, batting her eyes at him.

High up above, as Nick placed his paw on the small of his girlfriend's back and began swaying her to the music, Judy looked past him, down to the bar, where Joseph was leading her sister by the paw to the dance floor, completely unaware of their guardian angels watching over them.

"You clever fox, you," she said, pressing her nose into Nick's shirt and inhaling his scent like a drug.

"I've still got it, don't I?" Nick responded, lightly nuzzling the top of Judy's head as the intro came to a close, spinning her in a slow circle around the center of the room, giving each of them a turn to look down on the scene unfolding below.

When Jamie and Joseph reached the center of the dance floor, occupied by only a few other slow-dancing couples, Joseph stopped, suddenly unsure of himself.

"Um," he said, "I just remembered I don't actually know how to dance."

Jamie laughed, her nose crinkling in adorable delight. "Here," she said, placing her paws on his wrists and guiding them towards her body, "like this." She gently pressed his black-furred paws to her hips, and, with swanlike grace, reached her arms up and slung them around Joseph's neck, settling her paws gently on the top of the fox's spine. She found that her arms fit perfectly around him without her having to stretch or stand on tiptoe, perfectly comfortable, almost as if the two had been designed for one another. "Now we just…sway to the music." Jamie said, beginning to do just that, moving both herself and Joseph from side to side to the rhythm of the song, like a pair of daisies in a warm spring breeze.

Even through the fabric of her dress, Joseph could feel the softness and warmth of Jamie's fur beneath his paws. The sensation made his head feel like it was full of radio static, and he once again felt that rush of carnal fire fly through his heart, much stronger this time than it had ever been before. Joseph felt his tail begin to involuntarily swish from side to side behind him, and his heart was beating so loudly in his ears that he barely heard as Kevin Cronin began to croon out the lyrics of the song.

_Oh, I can't fight this feeling any longer_

_And yet I'm still afraid to let it flow_

_What started out as friendship has grown stronger_

_I only wish I had the strength to let it show_

_I tell myself that I can't hold out forever_

_I say there is no reason for my fear_

_'Cause I feel so secure when we're together_

_You give my life direction_

_You make everything so clear_

Without even realizing that he was doing it, just as it had happened when they were skating, Joseph began to quietly sing along with the song's bridge, his warm, mint-scented breath blowing lightly across Jamie's face with every word. " _And even as I wander, I'm keeping you in sight,_ " the fox crooned softly to her, his velvet voice aligned perfectly with the song, " _you're a candle in the window on a cold, dark winter's night, and I'm getting closer than I ever thought I might…_ "

As the song entered the chorus with a riff of guitar, Joseph felt his heart swell within him, swell so much he thought he would burst. Every word of the song was pure truth, perfectly applied to the bunny in his arms. He gazed down into the sky-blue eyes of the girl he'd held while she cried, the girl who had told him that he wasn't a monster but a hero, the girl who had made him feel like he belonged in this world, and Joseph Wilde suddenly felt braver than he ever had in his life.

_And I can't fight this feeling anymore_

_I've forgotten what I started fighting for_

_It's time to bring this ship into the shore_

_And throw away the oars, forever_

_'Cause I can't fight this feeling anymore_

_I've forgotten what I started fighting for_

_And if I have to crawl upon the floor_

_Come crushing through your door_

_Baby, I can't fight this feeling anymore_

"Jamie?" he said, speaking so softly he was amazed even her rabbit ears could hear him over the music. But, as if he were the only thing in the world to hear, she immediately locked her eyes on him, her ears going limp behind her head as she gazed deep into the amber pools of his eyes.

"Yes, Joseph?" she answered, her voice the whisper of a butterfly's wings.

Joseph swallowed a mouthful of air before he spoke. "I really like you," he told her, his voice shaking like a leaf in a hurricane.

Jamie responded by flashing him the purest, most delicate smile he'd ever seen. "I really like you, too," she said, her trembling voice as raw and vulnerable as his own.

_My life has been such a whirlwind since I saw you_

_I've been running around in circles in my mind_

_And it always seems that I'm following you, girl_

_'Cause you take me to the places_

_That alone, I'd never find_

_And even as I wander_

_I'm keeping you in sight_

_You're a candle in the window_

_On a cold, dark winter's night_

_And I'm getting closer than I ever thought I might_

Joseph almost lost control when she said that. Those were the sweetest five words he never thought he would hear, so sweet that they made him want to cry. "I…" he choked out. "Jamie, I need to tell you…" The fox had to take a deep breath before he continued. "Jamie, you've been the best friend I ever could have asked for. You're so sweet, and gentle, and kind, and funny, and…I feel safe when I'm with you, safer than I've ever felt before. But…"

"What?" the bunny asked, taking her paw from Joseph's neck and laying it softly against his cheek. "Joseph, what is it?"

Joseph couldn't help but take a moment to breathe in the rabbit's scent before continuing. "I feel like I've been fighting something all my life, Jamie," he said. "The world, HYDRA, people's expectations, my own demons. I've always been fighting something. And lately...I've been fighting this." He used his nose to motion to the space between them. "Fighting the way I feel...about you."

"What?" Jamie asked, a tone of disbelief in her voice. "Why? Joseph, why would you fight that? Don't you know how much I care about you?"

"I know," the fox responded, beginning to choke up. "I've been fighting it because I'm scared. Scared that I'm not worthy of you. Scared that I'm going to mess everything up and hurt you and you're going to realize how much better you can do."

The rabbit made as to respond, but Joseph continued before she could. "But I'm _tired_.  _God_ , Jamie, I'm so tired of fighting. I don't want to fight anymore. I just want to be happy. Jamie, I…" he paused to take a shuddering breath, locking his teary eyes on hers as if they were the center of the universe. "I can't fight this anymore."

"So don't," Jamie whispered to him, lifting herself up on her toes so that she could gently but firmly press her lips to his.

Everything stopped. The music, the air, even the beating of his own heart. It was as if Joseph's brain had blown out of his skull and his mind was floating aimlessly in the void. There was nothing, nothing but them, nothing but her, nothing but this one moment. All he could feel was the softness of her lips against his, the tiny puffs of warm breath coming from her twitching nose, the scent of her strawberry shampoo flooding off of her, the gentleness with which she pressed her paw against his cheek. The entire world could have burned down around him and Joseph never would have noticed, because Jamie Hopps was kissing him.

For Joseph, the moment Jamie kissed him was an eternity in and of itself, the moment its own self-contained universe, a plane of being in which time no longer existed. In truth, however, this initial feeling of shock lasted less than a second. Once he'd regained control of his faculties, he moved his muzzle forward, pressing his lips more firmly against Jamie's, and raised his paws from her hips, the left ascending to the space between her shoulder blades, the right to the back of her head. He gently stroked her warm, floppy ears, pressing his paw against the nape of her neck and deepening the kiss even further.

Though Joseph didn't know it, though he couldn't even begin to fathom the concept, everything that he was feeling, Jamie was feeling, too. For her, there was nothing else in the world but Joseph, nothing but the warmth that was rolling off of him, nothing but the feeling of his fur beneath her paws, nothing but his clean yet musty scent that was pouring into her nostrils, nothing but him kissing her.

She pulled away for a fraction of a second, trying to get a breath of air, but even that miniscule time was an agony to her. She immediately dove back in, pressing her muzzle to Joseph's with even more force than before, moving her unoccupied paw to rest upon his shoulder. Applying still more pressure to his mouth, Jamie parted his lips ever so slightly with hers so that his hot, minty breath poured into her mouth, sending a shudder through her body, which she felt instantly mirrored in his.

For both of them, for these two souls who four weeks ago had not known that the other existed, this was the most perfectly blissful moment of their entire lives. There was no pain, no sorrow, no fear, no loss. It was only the two of them, each wrapped in the embrace of the other, and the ineffable, unfathomable joy that flowed between them.

_And I can't fight this feeling anymore_

_I've forgotten what I started fighting for_

_It's time to bring this ship into the shore_

_And throw away the oars, forever_

_'Cause I can't fight this feeling anymore_

_I've forgotten what I started fighting for_

_And if I have to crawl upon the floor_

_Come crushing through your door_

_Baby, I can't fight this feeling anymore_

As the song finished its final refrain, Nick and Judy's steady rotation up in the DJ booth ended with Nick facing the window. Though his mind and heart were focused on the warm ball of fluff purring softly into his shirt, the vulpine chanced a glance out towards the club, his emerald eyes immediately catching on the bright orange fur of the fox in the center of the dance floor, noticing the form of a caramel bunny pressed up against him, their muzzles still locked together in a passionate kiss.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Nick said, a grin spreading across his face, " _it's a match!_ "

"What?" Judy exclaimed, pulling away from Nick's embrace.

Nick gestured towards the window behind her with his chin. "Hallelujah," he said as the bunny walked over to the glass and peered down into the club. When she saw what was happening, she let out a tiny squeal and raised her paws to her mouth.

"He did it!" she said incredulously. "Sweet cheese and crackers, he did it!"

"That's my boy!" Nick said excitedly, coming up behind Judy and playfully shaking her shoulders. "I knew you had it in you!"

"He's staying above the waist, right?" she asked of no one in particular, trying to gauge the position of Joseph's paws on her sister's body as they continued to make out.

"Yes, Carrots," Nick assured her, his superior eyesight able to see even the tiniest details in the dark club. "He's being very respectful." After they had gawked at the couple for a few more seconds and they still hadn't broken apart, Nick spoke up again. "Wow, they are  _really_  going at it, aren't they?"

Judy could only stare in almost morbid fascination as the fox below continued to press her sister against himself. "Good  _God_ , that's not what we look like, is it?"

"They look like two seals fighting over a grape," Nick noted helpfully. "Let's get away from the window before they see us," he said, pulling Judy away.

Down on the dance floor, still utterly oblivious to anything happening around them, both Joseph and Jamie simultaneously decided to stop the kiss, both needing to breathe before they passed out. When they finally and agonizingly broke apart, they looked into each other's eyes, their chests heaving as if they had just finished running a marathon. Jamie grabbed Joseph's face firmly, her paws grasping his warm cheekbones and making absolutely certain that his eyes remained locked on hers.

" _Stay,_ " she commanded him, her voice as raw and vulnerable as it had been on the night of the storm. "Stay with me, Joseph."

Joseph, in turn, gently placed his paws on Jamie's caramel-colored cheeks, using his thumb to wipe away a single tear at the corner of her eye.

"Always, Jamie," he promised her, his voice as soft and tender as the fur beneath his paws. " _Always_."


	23. Heaven's Light

When Judy opened her eyes, the very first thing she saw was a long pink tongue lolling out of an orange-furred muzzle lined with sharp teeth. In the same instant, her nose was assaulted by the repugnant smell of onions and nacho cheese as Nick's hot morning breath hit her in the face like a cloud of poison gas. Reeling back from the obnoxious odor, she saw that her boyfriend was still sound asleep, his arms splayed out awkwardly around him, his head lying at an awkward angle on the pillow as his bare chest rose and fell in a slow, steady rhythm.

Given his remarkably bare chest and the fact that his t-shirt was hanging on the bedpost next to him, Judy deduced that the fox must have gotten too hot under the blankets at some point in the night. It didn't surprise her—with the change of the seasons, Nick's winter coat was beginning to come in, causing the fur covering his body to become thicker and fluffier. She was reaching towards him to gently run her paw through the fluffy, cream-colored fur on his chest when another wave of fox-breath smacked her in the face, causing her to gag.

"Cheese and crackers, Nick," she said quietly, waving her paw in front of her nose, "why'd you have to get the loaded nachos last night?"

The fox responded by emitting a wall-shaking snore, then promptly licked his chops and snapped his mouth shut.

Judy smiled and shook her head at the reynard, carefully crawling back over to him and burying her nose in the fluff of his chest. "You are a dumb fox," she whispered, nuzzling her way up Nick's chest, finally lifting her head back up once she reached his jawline. "But you're  _my_ dumb fox." She proceeded to place a tender, lingering kiss on Nick's throat, feeling his heartbeat flood her lips with warmth. The action elicited an unconscious "mmm" from Nick, causing Judy to giggle in amusement.

"Sorry, hot stuff," she whispered playfully, knowing he couldn't hear her, "but this bunny needs some water." Now that she had noticed it, she was painfully aware of how dry her mouth was. As she scooted off of the bed and stood up, she felt a brief spasm of pain shoot through her head, just behind her eyes.

"Stupid Long Island Iced Tea," Judy muttered, cursing her minor hangover. She glanced around the room, noticing that early morning sunlight was just starting to creep in between the curtains above the headboard. The digital clock on the dresser at the foot of the bed told her that it was 7:30AM. She unplugged her phone from where it was charging on the nightstand, slipped it into the pocket of her pajama bottoms, and made her way to the bathroom.

Once she had quenched her thirst with several glasses of water from the bathroom sink, Judy examined herself in the mirror, idly picking at a loose thread on the collar of her long-sleeved orange-and-green PJs, and realized that she was probably not going to be able to go back to sleep at this point. Shrugging to herself, she turned off the bathroom light and proceeded to the kitchen with the intent of starting a pot of coffee.

She was surprised to find, however, that coffee had already been brewed, and was being contentedly sipped on by a bright orange fox sitting at the kitchen table, his back to the doorway as he stared out the small window above the sink, a far-away expression on his face.

Judy did her best to control the knowing grin that spread across her face as she entered the kitchen, making a beeline for the coffee pot. "Morning, Joseph," the rabbit said, pouring herself a steaming mug of the dark brown liquid.

"Good morning, Judy," Joseph said with a smile. He had a good deal more pep in his voice than he usually did. "How's it going?"

"Oh, not bad," she responded, pouring a splash of cream into the dark, bitter liquid in her cup. "What time did you get home last night?"

"About 11:30, I think. I decided to walk home from Jamie's apartment after I dropped her off. Needed some fresh air."

"Oh, nice." The bunny finished stirring a spoonful of sugar into her coffee, settling herself into the chair immediately across from Joseph. "So," she said curiously, "how'd it go?"

Joseph tried to control the goofy smile that was trying to split across his face, and failed miserably. "It went…really,  _really_  well," he said, unable to keep the almost childlike glee out of his voice. The sound of it warmed Judy's heart. "Way better than I thought it would, honestly. We both had a really good time. I think Jamie really enjoyed herself."

"That's great! What did you guys end up doing? Did you just go to dinner, or…?"

"We went to dinner, but then Jamie suggested this nightclub in Tundratown called Verdant, so we headed over there. Really neat place."

"That sounds fun," Judy said, giggling inside. "What did you guys do there?"

"Oh, you know," Joseph responded non-committedly, slowly running his finger around the edge of his coffee cup, "we had a few drinks, talked a little bit, she made me try a Grasshopper.  _Really_  good drink by the way."

"You guys dance at all?"

"Mm-hmm," the fox said, now trying to avoid eye contact with Judy. "Yeah, we danced."

"Aaaaand?"

Joseph looked up at Judy, finishing off his coffee. "And what?" he asked, suddenly nervous.

Judy leaned her chin into her paw, a very Nick-ish smile spreading across her face. "Come on, Joseph," she insisted, "I'm her sister, you can tell me."

Joseph glanced quickly back into his empty cup, pursing his lips as he did so. As he responded, however, another giddy smile split his face. "A gentleman never kisses and tells," he said, rising from the table to put his mug in the sink.

"Atta boy!" Judy squealed, giving the fox a playful shove as we walked by. "See, I told you she liked you!"

"Hey, that's your sister you're talking about!" Joseph said in a playfully indignant tone. "Shouldn't you be worried that she's d—" He almost choked as he said the word out loud for the first time. "Dating a fox?" he finished.

"Not when it's you," she told him, her snarky tone giving way to a softer and sincerer one. She turned around in her chair to face him. "There's honestly no one else I'd rather see Jamie with than you, Joseph. You're a good person, and I know you'll treat her right."

Joseph cast his eyes to the ground, blushing at the rabbit's compliments. "Thank you," he said to her. "Thanks for helping me get up the courage to ask her out."

"Don't mention it," Judy said with a wave of her paw. "Seeing the two of you happy is all the thanks I need."

Joseph smiled bashfully again, leaning back against the sink, then furrowed his brow slightly. "'The two of us'?" he repeated. "What do you mean, 'seeing the two of us happy'? Did you talk to Jamie after she got home last night?"

Judy bit her lip, a guilty expression creeping across her face as she realized she'd slipped up. "Well…" she said shyly.

"Judy, what is it?" Joseph asked. "You're acting kind of…weird."

The bunny awkwardly scratched behind her ears. "It's just…you kind of said yesterday that you were going to take her to the park by the harbor, so we really didn't expect you to walk into Verdant last night…"

Joseph's amber eyes widened in realization. "You—you were  _there?_ " he exclaimed. "You and Nick? Y-y-you saw us?"

Judy nodded guiltily. "Sorry," she whispered.

Joseph placed his face in his paws. "Oh, God," he groaned, shaking his head in embarrassment. "Oh, my God, please tell me you didn't see us when we—"

"We did," she affirmed before he had even finished the sentence. "Were you guys fighting over a piece of gum or something?" she added with a snicker.

Joseph groaned loudly, sliding down the cabinet under the sink until he was seated on the linoleum floor, his face still in his paws. " _Why_  were you guys watching us?" he begged of her.

"Well, we didn't mean to!" Judy countered. "We just didn't expect you two to be there! Besides, it was all Nick's idea, not mine."

The fox on the floor slowly lowered his black-furred paws from his face. " _What_ was Nick's idea?" he asked, his voice dripping with dread.

 _Crap,_ Judy thought. She just couldn't keep her mouth shut, could she? "Well…Nick and I...may or may not have been upstairs in the DJ booth choosing which songs were played."

Joseph stared at her in shock. "No," he said. " _You_ put on 'Can't Fight This Feeling'?"

"Nick did," Judy reminded him, feeling slightly guilty about throwing her partner under the bus. "Joseph, I'm sorry, please don't be mad! We just wanted to help, and it looked like you weren't going to—"

"' _Mad_ '?" Joseph questioned. "Judy, I'm not mad. I'm just…shocked. I mean…she's your  _sister_ , for Pete's sake! Why would you be so concerned with me…'making a move' on her?"

"Because I want to see you two happy," the bunny explained, rising from her seat and kneeling down next to Joseph. "And you two are happy when you're together. I know what kind of person you are, Joseph, and I know that you'll take good care of my baby sister."

Joseph turned his head to the side, studying Judy's face, almost a grey-and-white copy of her sister's. "You took me into your home," he said to her wistfully, "you fed me, you clothed me, you welcomed me into your family. And now, you literally help me get my—" He had to pause for a moment and take a breath before he said it, still somewhat unable to believe that it was real. "You helped me get my first kiss with the most perfect girl I've ever met." The fox shook his head from side to side, incredulous. "I'm never going to be able to repay you for this."

Judy placed her paw on her friend's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "You don't have to," she said. "Just be happy. And make Jamie happy."

After a moment of simply looking at her, Joseph spoke again. "I know it's probably not something you really want to think about right now," he said, "but someday, Judy…you're gonna make a great mom."

Judy felt her heart contract at the fox's compliment. He was right, it wasn't something she really wanted to think about at the moment, but it still meant a lot to her to hear him say something like that.

"No wonder Jamie's into you," she said in response. "How do you always find the sweetest things to say?"

The fox merely shrugged, a playful smile returning to his lips. "I'm a sly fox," he said.

The rabbit let out a bark of laughter. "Well, Sly Fox," she said, getting to her feet, "get up off my kitchen floor so I don't have to sweep up a cloud of orange fluff today."

"As you wish," Joseph said, hopping up just like a bunny. "Want me to fix you some breakfast? I've been told I make a  _mean_  bowl of Fruit Loops."

"That's okay," Judy laughed, "I think I'm just going to have a carrot muffin today." She walked over to the cabinet, popping it open and grabbing a muffin from the plastic container inside. "By the way," she said as she began to unwrap the pastry, "you  _are_  going to go out with Jamie again, right?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely," Joseph said as he began to pour himself a bowl of Fruit Loops. "I'm actually supposed to meet her this morning. That's why I'm up already."

"A breakfast date, huh? Not even twelve hours after the first one?" Judy took a large bite of her muffin, pulling her phone out of her pocket and opening up Furbook. "You guys move fast."

"Oh, this isn't really a date," Joseph assured her as he sat down at the table with his breakfast. "It's more like we're just going somewhere together."

"But you are 'together'?"

"I think so, yeah."

"Well," Judy said, opening up her notifications, "Jamie sure seems to think so." She held the device out to him, allowing him to read the words on the screen. He leaned forward, looking at the notifications closely. The first one announced that Officer Clawhauser had 'liked' a video Judy had shared, the second one stating that Jamie Hopps was in a—

Joseph's eyes widened and his spoon fell from his paw into his cereal with a splash. "'Jamie Hopps is... _in a relationship_  with Joseph Wilde'," he read out loud, his voice slack. "Holy…"

"Congratulations, Joey," Judy said as she pulled the phone back. "You officially have a girlfriend."

The fox sat back in his chair, almost as dumbfounded as he had been when Jamie kissed him last night. "I have a girlfriend," he said to himself, the words sounding alien. "Jamie…is…my girlfriend."

"You're so cute when you're smitten," Judy teased. "So, still think this morning isn't a date?"

Joseph had to blink a few times to get back to reality. "Yeah," he said. "No, it's still not a date."

"Well, why not?" Judy asked. "I mean, she's your girlfriend, and you're going out to breakfast with her, so doesn't that qualify as a date?"

"I never said we were going to breakfast," responded Joseph, gesturing to the bowl in front of him, indicating that he was already partaking in said meal.

"Well, then, where are you two going?"

Joseph dropped his eyes and pursed his lips, a pensive expression passing over his face. He wasn't sure how best to phrase his thoughts.

"I, um...I used to be a really devout Catholic," he said finally. "I used to go to church a few times a week, but…I've barely so much as uttered a prayer in almost three years. After I was taken by HYDRA, after I was changed, I…I lost every ounce of faith I had. In the world, in the government, in myself, but most of all in God. I hated him for letting this happen to me." The fox idly moved his spoon around in his fruity cereal, his appetite apparently gone. "I've spent the last two years of my life drowning in hatred and despair and...basically wishing I was dead. But since I came here, since I met you guys…I finally remember what real love and happiness feel like. And lately, especially since you told me I was family, since Nick basically became my father, I've been feeling a…nudge inside me. Something telling me that maybe there really was a plan all along."

He chanced a glance up at Judy and saw that she was leaning forward onto the table, her ears turned toward him, listening intently. He continued.

"Last night at dinner, Jamie asked me what I wanted to be before everything happened, and I told her how I used to want to be a priest, but now I'm not really sure what I believe in. But last night, after she…after she kissed me, it felt like…everything made sense. All the pain, the suffering, the loneliness, even the literal torture—it suddenly felt like it all had a purpose, like it was  _worth it_. Because...because of her. I was thinking about that last night, and this one Bible verse popped into my head, and it's just been…playing on repeat."

"What was it?" Judy asked.

"It's from Jeremiah," Joseph answered. "' _For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.'_  I told Jamie about what I was feeling last night after we got done dancing." A tiny laugh escaped his lips. "That song really helped me open up to her about my feelings. Anyway, I told her what I was feeling, and she suggested that we go to church together this morning. I…have a lot of stuff on my soul, and I feel like this might be the best way to get it off. Make my confession, go to Mass…I mean, even if nothing else really comes from it, even if I find out that I just don't believe in anything anymore, at least it'll be therapeutic."

After several moments of silence, Joseph spoke again, his tone once again light-hearted. "Anyway, it just doesn't really seem like going to church on Sunday morning would be considered a date, y'know?"

"Yeah," Judy said thoughtfully, popping the last bite of her muffin into her mouth. "Yeah, that would be a little weird…at least until the wedding, anyway." The bunny let out a laugh as Joseph made a dramatic show of choking on his cereal.

"Why must you rabbits torment me so?" he asked once he had regained his breath.

"It's fun to watch the big bad foxes squirm," she responded playfully. She stood up, downing the last of her coffee and placing the cup in the sink. "I'm gonna hop in the shower," she stated. As she exited the kitchen, the fox called back to her.

"Hey, Judy?" he said.

"Yeah?" she answered, turning on her heel to face him.

"Speaking of Bible verses and stuff…if you ever want to know what you and Nick mean to me…take a look at Matthew 25, verses 34 to 40."

"What is it?"

"Just look at it," Joseph responded, a sly smirk appearing at the edge of his lips. "You'll understand."

As Judy made her way into the bathroom and turned on the water for the shower, she thought about what Joseph had said as she waited for the water to heat up. Unable to deny her curiosity, she pulled out her phone again, pressing the home button and activating the virtual assistant.

"Matthew 25, 34 to 40," she said to the phone. A moment later, a link popped up leading her to an online Bible database, the verses picked out and ready to read. As she read through the words and steam began to fill the room, she felt herself beginning to choke up as she realized what Joseph had meant. She had known that he loved her and Nick like family—especially Nick, who had truly stepped into the role of Joseph's father—but this was on a different level. Judy realized that Joseph didn't just see them as his family—he saw them as saints.

" _Then the King will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.'"_

* * *

Although her breath steamed in front of her face in the chill morning air, Jamie couldn't help but feel unseasonably warm as Joseph ever so gently traced the claw of his thumb along the back of her paw, tightly clenched in his as they stood side-by-side before the great wooden doors of St. Nicholas Catholic Church.

The bunny gave her fox's paw a squeeze, raising her eyes to his. She felt her heart flutter as Joseph looked at her, those deep amber eyes shining with what she could only think must be heaven's light. Jamie had to take a breath before she spoke to him.

"You ready?" she asked.

The fox smiled at her. "Ready as I'll ever be," he responded.

"Good," Jamie said, and began to lead him up the stone stairs to the front of the church. Just before the pair reached the doors, Jamie felt Joseph stop and pull on her paw.

"Wait," he said.

The bunny turned to look at him, concerned. "What is it?" she asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Joseph assured her with a nod of his head. "I'm fine. It's just…before we go in, since it wouldn't really be appropriate…" An adorably sheepish expression crossed Joseph's muzzle. "Can I have one more kiss, plese?"

Jamie marveled at the boyish innocence of Joseph's request, feeling her heart begin to melt again. "You know you don't have to ask," she said as she wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him towards her. "You  _are_ my boyfriend now. I'm not going to file charges against you because you smooched me without my permission."

"I know that," Joseph responded, his pulse accelerating when Jamie said the word  _boyfriend,_  "I just have to keep making sure that this is real and I'm not dreaming or something."

"It's the realest thing ever," Jamie whispered as she reached up, planting a slow, tender kiss on Joseph's lips, the scent of her strawberry shampoo flooding his nose with bliss.

When she pulled away, Joseph felt like he was going to faint. "I don't think I'm ever gonna get used to that," he breathed.

"You'd better," Jamie warned, giving him a playful  _boop_ on the nose, "because there's lots more where that came from." She gingerly lowered herself back down, her lips tasting slightly of Joseph's cherry Chapstick. "Now, do you want to go to church or not?"

"Yes, dear," Joseph replied, moving towards the door.

"I'm a rabbit, not a deer," Jamie quipped.

"I should've known that joke was coming sooner or later," said the fox as he swung open the heavy wooden door.

"To be fair, both deer and rabbits are called does and bucks."

"Huh," Joseph mused as the warm air of the vestibule enveloped the two of them. "I did not know that."

"The more you know!" Jamie said in a sing-song voice.

"Hush, my doe," the fox whispered playfully in an English accent, "for we are now in the house of the Lord."

Jamie's only response was to smile and give Joseph's left paw another squeeze as he silently dipped his fingers in the holy water font by the door, swiftly signing himself with the cross. As soon as he finished the blessing, he stopped in his tracks, a far-away expression suddenly crossing his face.

"What is it?" Jamie said quietly.

"Nothing," Joseph said, thought the dark tone of his voice indicated otherwise. "It's just…the last time I did that, I...I was about to jump off a bridge."

Jamie felt her heart contract at Joseph's mention of his attempted suicide. The mere thought of him trying something like that made her feel like she'd been punched in the stomach. "Hey," she said gently to him, rubbing her left paw up and down his arm, "you're okay. I'm right here with you."

The fox leaned down to her, affectionately pressing his nose to her forehead. "I know," he said. "Thank you."

"Always," Jamie responded, and continued leading him up the center aisle.

Once they reached the front of the church, standing just before the main altar, they simply stood paw-in-paw, neither really sure what to do.

"So," Jamie said, her voice echoing loudly off of the empty church's stone walls, "Mass doesn't start for almost an hour. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know," Joseph replied, glancing around the empty church. "I wanted to go to confession, but it doesn't look like the priest is here yet."

"Well, why don't we just sit down? Have a little quiet time."

"Yeah, that sounds good." He allowed the rabbit to lead him by the paw into a pew close to the front on the left side of the church. Jamie released his paw when they sat down, and Joseph closed his eyes, leaning back in the pew. The smell of incense and burning candles pricked at his hypersensitive nose, bringing back memories of his days as an altar server. As his mind began to calm itself, his breathing and heart rate slowed as well. After several minutes of silence, he opened his eyes, training them on the cross seated above the tabernacle on the high altar.

"How's it feel?" Jamie asked him quietly. "Being back?"

"Strange," Joseph told her. "But familiar, too. But mostly, it just feels…" Joseph took a deep breath in through his nose, his mind suddenly flooded with the smells of burning wicks, wax, incense, and even a hint of sacramental wine. He exhaled slowly, feeling the tension go out of his shoulders. "Peaceful," he finished. "Like home."

Jamie placed her paw on his shoulder, exactly like her sister had done earlier this morning, and rubbed it slowly back and forth in a comforting gesture. "Since we're alone, is there anything you want to say before people start arriving?" She tilted her head forward, indicating the altar. "To him?"

Joseph thought for a moment, unsure. He really wasn't sure what he wanted to say, if anything. Then, after a few moments of silent deliberation, the fox felt something, a nudge towards action. Not really knowing what else to do, he decided to do what he had done last night with Jamie, and simply say what was on his heart.

"I don't know if you can hear me," Joseph said aloud, his voice soft and vulnerable, "or...or if you're even there. If you are, I don't know why you would listen to a monster's prayer, especially one who's been so far away from you for so long. But I've been feeling something inside of myself lately, and…I just need to let it out."

He took in a deep breath, letting it out as a sigh before he continued. "I've spent a long time feeling like you've abandoned me, like you just didn't care. I never understood why you would let all those things happen to me if you were truly good. I lost faith. I lost hope. I lost love. I was at the absolute end of my rope, and then, suddenly…everything changed. I don't know if it was you or magic or some scientific mumbo-jumbo that brought me here, but I guess it doesn't really matter. Because lately, especially after last night…" He squeezed the paw of the bunny at his side. "I think I'm starting to see things a little more clearly.

"I've heard a lot of people say that you let bad things happen so that you can bring greater good out of them—after all, isn't that the definition of what you did on the cross? Part of me always thought that was just a stupid excuse, especially after everything that happened to me. But now, when I see everything that's come of all the suffering I've endured, I can't help but think that maybe they were right. Maybe...maybe beauty really can come out of ashes. Because my life is better now than it's ever been before." Joseph paused to wipe at his eyes, which were beginning to tear up yet again.

"I have a family that cares about me," he continued. "And, even though he's not my blood, I have a…a  _father_ who loves me. And most of all, I have…I have this wonderful, beautiful, perfect girl at my side who for some reason wants to be with me almost as much as I want to be with her." At that, Jamie let out an airy laugh, and raised their entwined paws so that she could plant a kiss on the back of Joseph's. "So, I guess, all I really can say is…thank you. Thank you for all of this. Thank you."

With those heartfelt words, Joseph finished his prayer, closing his eyes and leaning his forehead against the pew in front of him. For several minutes he was utterly silent, simply enjoying the peace of this sacred space. After a few moments, he felt Jamie let go of his paw and place hers on his back, just between his shoulder blades, rubbing it back and forth in slow, comforting circles.

"So," she said softly, "what do you think? Do you believe?"

The fox slowly turned his head towards her, an easy smile on his face and peace in his bright amber eyes. "I believe in love," he said. "That's what all this is about, isn't it? 'Love one another', 'love your enemies'. St. John even went so far as to say that 'God is love'. I think that that's what's at the heart of everything—not just faith, but...everything. Our whole lives. Love is at the root of everything, all learning, all relationships…love, or the lack of it." He felt his heart rate speed up once again as his girlfriend scooted closer to him, embracing his arm and leaning into his shoulder. "I guess that's all I really need to believe in," he whispered.

Jamie gazed up into the eyes of the fox that had brought her so much joy and comfort in the last few weeks, and could swear she saw the very light of heaven shining through them. "You know, when I was little," she said quietly to him, continuing to rub her paw in a slow circle on his back, "during that storm, when the branch came through my window…I was lying on my back when it happened, but I had been lying on my side just a minute before. If I'd been lying on my side when the branch came through, it might have gone right through me. And, you know, maybe it's something that I just put into my own memories and it never really happened, but…I could swear that I felt a little nudge on my shoulder, almost like...someone was trying to turn me over. I think…I think it was my guardian angel." She lowered her paw from his back, wrapping both her arms more tightly around Joseph's arm, her eyes never leaving his. "Do you believe in angels, Joseph?"

Joseph's smile widened even further, the light in his eyes magnifying a hundred times as he felt a happiness inside him he never thought he'd feel. "Yes, I do," he told her, his velvet voice as soft and delicate as the whisper of a butterfly's wings. He gently pressed his lips to Jamie's forehead, causing a shiver to go through her as he began to sing softly.

" _But suddenly an angel has smiled at me,"_ he crooned to the bunny, " _and kissed my cheek without a trace of fright. I dare to dream that she might even care for me, and as I ring these bells tonight, my cold, dark tower seems so bright…"_

And then, even as Joseph sang, the bells of the church began to toll out the nine o'clock hour, making it so that Jamie could scarcely hear the final words that her boyfriend sang for her...

" _I swear it must be heaven's light._ "


	24. Hellfire

_**CAUTION: This chapter contains graphic depictions of extreme violence, including depictions that some readers may find upsetting or potentially traumatic. Reader discretion is strongly advised.** _

" _Please_ , stop!" the sheep squealed in agony as blood pumped freely around the black-furred paw in her ribcage. "I'm begging you, I'm sorry—"

"I don't  _care_  if you're sorry," Joseph growled at her, twisting his claws around inside the sheep's abdomen so that they scraped against her ribs, causing her to cry in pain as a spray of blood erupted from her lips. "I saw the security tape. Judy played the recording for me. You know what you did, and  _you have to pay."_ The fire of vengeful hatred burned brighter and hotter within him than he'd ever felt it before. He found it suddenly difficult to imagine anything more pleasurable than tormenting the monster who had nearly killed his family.

" _Please, just kill me!_ " Bellwether shouted at him, the once pristine white wool on her head now filthy with her own blood and the ash of the burning landscape. "Oh, God,  _please_ , just end it—"

"Oh, I'm going to," the fox said with a sadistic growl. "But first, I'm going to make you  _suffer_  for what you did. I am going to make you  _SCREAM_  for what you did to them!." He tore his claws from the former mayor's abdomen and sunk them into her shoulder, eliciting another cry of agony.

" _Please!_ " the sheep cried, tears cutting a gray line through the ash embedded in her wool. "Please, I said I was sorry!"

" _IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU'RE SORRY!"_ Joseph roared at her, his hot, rancid breath blowing across her face. "You know why it doesn't matter? Because I'm not just doing this for justice or vengeance." The monster leaned down and whispered almost tenderly in the sheep's ear. "I'm doing this because I  _like_  it. I like making you  _hurt_. I like hearing you  _scream_." He leaned down and ran his hot, wet tongue over the wound in Bellwether's shoulder, the salty taste of her blood on his lips sending a demonic shudder through his chest. "I like being bad," he growled at her, his voice trembling with anticipation. " _It makes me happy._ "

Bellwether simply continued to weep, her breaths becoming more and more shallow.

Joseph rolled his eyes in annoyance. " _Fine_ ," he said, ripping his claws out of the sheep's shoulder with a cracking squelch. "But only because your crying is starting to grate on my nerves." With that, he extended his first and second fingers in something like a peace sign, brought them back behind his head, and stabbed them into Bellwether's eyes, piercing her brain and penetrating straight through to the other side of her skull. With a final exhale of breath, the sheep shuddered and lay still.

Joseph tore his paw from the sheep's skull, licking her blood from his fingers with relish, a demonic smile spreading across his muzzle. Standing up, he stretched his arms out over his head, breathing in the scent of ash and sulfur and decay. He slowly turned and examined his surroundings, taking in the sight of the burning buildings lining the Magnificent Mile of Chicago's Michigan Avenue. Several blocks to the north, the broken stub of the Hancock Center was belching black smoke into the blood-red sky as hordes upon hordes of birds of prey descended upon the hundreds of bloodied and butchered corpses, animal and human alike. He closed his eyes and extended his arms, slowly spinning in a circle like Julie Andrews in  _The Sound of Music_ as a rock song blasted from nowhere, sending vibrations through Joseph's bones, the lyrics sinking deep into his tumultuous soul.

_I can't escape this hell_

_So many times I've tried_

_But I'm still caged inside_

_Somebody get me through this nightmare_

_I can't control myself_

"Joseph?" said a soft voice from behind him, causing the fox to spin around in alarm, his lips pulling back in a ferocious snarl. His eyes landed on the form of a bipedal rabbit, standing a few yards away from him in a puddle of blood, her red-and-black flannel shirt as spotless as it had been on the day they met.

"Jamie?" Joseph breathed out in confusion, suddenly ashamed of his surroundings as his heart rate skyrocketed. "Jamie, what are you doing here?  _I told you not to come here!_ "

The sight of her, even standing among the apocalyptic carnage of his own making, sent a surge of electricity through his body and made his tail bristle. He could feel the familiar peace and joy flowing through his heart at her presence, but this time it was drowned out by the massive surge of black fire that swirled in his chest as he ran his eyes over her caramel-colored body.

"Joseph, what's going on?" Jamie asked him as she began to move forward, heedless of the blood staining her bare feet. "Joey, what is this place?"

"I told you not to come here," the fox repeated, backing away and yet wanting nothing more than to run forward and press his girlfriend to his chest. "I warned you that this place was dark, and evil. I tried to tell you to stay away."

"Where is 'here'?" the rabbit asked, her voice beginning to tremble. The sound sent another surge of hellfire through Joseph's body, and he felt the endorphins cascade from his brain and flood his bloodstream. "Joey…who did all this?"

" _I did_ ," Joseph answered. "This is me, Jamie.  _Inside_  me. This is my mind, my heart, my  _soul_. This is what I am inside."

"No, no it's not," she insisted, walking up to him and wrapping her arms around his waist. At her touch, he felt the darkness inside him rear its ugly head and roar in need of sustenance, the sustenance that was the bunny he cared for so deeply. "I know your soul, and it's good, and pure, and  _it isn't this!_ "

"Listen, Jamie!" Joseph screamed at her, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her. "Listen to what the sky is saying, because that's the truth about me! And if you don't leave me now, it's going to come for you!  _It wants you!_ "

The rabbit was silent as the vibrations of the song from nowhere filled the air between them, a hot, hellish wind blowing her chocolate-tipped ears around her head.

_So what if you can see the darkest side of me?_

_No one will ever change this animal I have become_

_Help me believe it's not the real me_

_Somebody help me tame this animal_

"No," Joseph's girlfriend said in response to the song. "Joseph, that isn't the real you! You're better than that, you're  _good_!"

"NO, I'M NOT!" the fox roared, shaking her even harder, not caring if he hurt her so long as she got away from him before the dark urges inside of him took control. "I'm not good, Jamie! I'm evil and there is a darkness inside me that has always been there! Don't you understand?  _People don't change_ , Jamie. I am an  _animal_ , a rabid, savage animal, just like I always have been! I was an animal then, and I'm an animal now-HYDRA just gave me claws. This thing inside me, it's not the Monster or the Soldier, it's  _worse_! And if you don't go,  _it is going to get you!_ "

Jamie merely shook her beautiful head, tears streaming from her perfectly sky-blue eyes. "I don't care," she said, gripping his wrists tightly with her paws. "I don't care how much darkness you think there is inside you.  _Joseph, I love you!_ "

And that was it.

That was what pushed him over the edge.

Rising like a black cloud of putrid volcanic ash, the darkness of his primal instincts consumed him from the inside out, filling him with need, with want, with the hunger of desire. "I want you too, Jamie," Joseph growled at her, his voice deepening demonically.

A look of confusion crossed the rabbit's face. "What?" she asked him as the howling wind and blasting music all but drowned her out. "Joseph, that's not what I said, I said I lo—"

Her words were cut off as Joseph gripped her shoulders tightly and slammed his lips onto hers as hard as he could, feeling her lip split and the coppery taste of her blood drip onto his tongue. He pried open her mouth with his, inhaling her breath as though he thought he could swallow her soul. "I want you, Jamie," he groaned again, his voice becoming more and more animalistic. "I  _need_  you."

_I can't escape myself_

_So many times I've lied_

_But there's still rage inside_

_Somebody get me through this nightmare_

_I can't control myself_

The rabbit placed her paws on his chest and tried to push herself away from him. "Joseph, what are you d—" She was cut off yet again as the fox kissed her roughly, backing her out of the cracked, bloody street and up against the carved concrete pillar that sat in the center of The Disney Store's decrepit storefront. He shoved her against the once innocent cartoon figures carved into the pillar, the animal inside him getting stronger with every second he spent pressed up against her.

"I told you to run," he growled at Jamie in a voice that was not his own. He jammed his snout into the crook of her neck, inhaling her scent as though it were a drug. "I told you that you deserved better than me, that you had to get away from me before it was too late. But you didn't listen, and now look where we are."

"Joseph, what are you doing?" the rabbit cried, tears streaking her face as she fought in vain to break free of her boyfriend's embrace. " _Joseph, please, it's me, it's Jamie_ —"

"I know," the animal said, raising his eyes to hers. They were no longer the glowing amber that his new family had come to know and love—now, there were no whites at all, only an iris of amber so dark it was almost black, and the cat-like pupil in the center, widening in hunger with every passing moment. They were the eyes of a feral, savage fox. "I know it's you. That's why I'm doing this. Because I  _want you_."

"Joey," the doe moaned in grief, "Joey, this isn't you…this isn't you…"

"Yes, it is," Joseph said as he grazed her caramel throat with his canines, feeling the beat of her heart against his tongue. "This is who I am underneath, Jamie. This is  _what_ I am, what I've always been. A monster. An  _animal_. I tried to hide you from it, tried to protect you, but you  _just wouldn't listen!_ " He released the grip of his right paw on her shoulder, moving it down to where his body pressed against hers, and tore the metal belt buckle away from her jeans with the strength of a hundred men.

" _No…"_ the bunny groaned, desperately trying to fight against the animal that held her.

" _Yesssss..._ " Joseph growled, his voice guttural.

_So what if you can see the darkest side of me?_

_No one will ever change this animal I have become_

_Help me believe it's not the real me_

_Somebody help me tame this animal_

The bunny was sobbing now, her body shaking against his as he slid his paw down her abdomen, his claw nicking at the torn waistband of her jeans. "Joey, please stop—"

"I can't," he growled back, the hellfire inside of him filling his heart, mind, body, and soul with insatiable, unquenchable desire. "And I  _don't want to._ "

"NO!" Jamie screamed, furiously but vainly beating her paws against Joseph's chest as his paw descended further, finally feeling the burning heat of her flesh against his paw pad-and with it, a sticky wetness that drove him mad. A hellish purr escaped his lips as his paw dampened with Jamie's fear, his eyes rolling back into his head with pleasure. "NO, PLEASE, JOSEPH,  _STOP!_ "

The kit jerked awake amidst a tangle of sweaty sheets and blankets, the perspiration pouring out through his fur like a summer rain. Realizing that he was in his own bedroom and not in the post-apocalyptic streets of his home world, Joseph threw the covers off of himself in a flurry, bolting out of bed and making a beeline to the bathroom.

He had barely managed to shut the door behind him and throw himself over the edge of the bathtub before a torrent of acidic vomit tore itself from his stomach, singeing his throat like the hellfire in his chest. After retching for close to a minute without stopping, the fox's stomach was totally empty, and his esophagus felt as though it had been scrubbed with white-hot steel wool. Even in the near pitch-darkness of the bathroom, Joseph could see with his superior night-vision that the vomit slowly making its way down the drain was tinged red with his blood.

Shivering so violently that he was practically convulsing, the fox brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around himself, leaning back against the cold tile wall as the tears of indescribable shame began to flow. The sweat soaking his fur and nightclothes made him feel like he was freezing, but his core was still burning hot with shame, fear, and bile. Joseph was sobbing so loudly and violently to himself that he was practically screaming, and he didn't notice when the bathroom door flew open and the light turned on.

"Joseph?" came the concerned voice of his father. "Christ almighty, Joseph, are you okay?"

The fox's only response was to continue sobbing wildly, only registering Nick's presence when the older canine wrapped his arms lovingly around him.

"NO!" Joseph screamed, skittering away from Nick in a panic. "D-d-d-don't touch me!"

"Kid, what the hell is going on?" Nick asked, his voice dripping with concern. "Are you sick? Did you have a night terror? Joseph, please,  _talk to me!"_  He made to place his hands on his son's shoulders, but he scooted away once more.

"Don't touch me," Joseph repeated. "I'm bad. I'm dirty, I'm evil, I-. Oh, God,  _what did I do?_ "

Nick forcefully wrapped his arms around the kit's shoulders in an effort to calm him down. "Hey," he said, slowly beginning to rock him back and forth like a child, "it's okay, you're okay, it was just a dream, alright? You're safe now." Barely even realizing he was doing it, Nick placed a single fatherly kiss on the top of Joseph's head. "It's okay. Dad's here now. I'm here, buddy."

He had to sit there with Joseph on the cold tile floor for nearly ten minutes before the kit calmed down. Even then, it took another fifteen minutes and several glasses of water before he was able to speak a coherent sentence.

"I didn't wake Judy, did I?" he asked as Nick led him back to his bed, having cleaned up his muzzle and giving him a dry set of clothes.

"No, she's still asleep," Nick assured him as the younger fox sat down on the mattress. "She did a lot of housework today, so she was pretty wiped."

"Oh, thank God," Joseph muttered shakily. "Please, don't tell her about this. I…I can't tell her...what I did…"

"Joseph, you didn't do anything," Nick reminded him. "It was a dream, okay?"

"But it came from i _nside me,_  Nick," the kit insisted. "I…I did things and I—"

"Shh. It's okay. Just calm down, take some deep breaths, okay?" The older fox hugged the younger once again, rubbing his paws along his back comfortingly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Joseph shook his head violently. "I can't," he said. "It's too horrible."

"You can talk to me, buddy," Nick insisted to him, pulling away slightly so he could look him in the eyes. "Okay? We all have stuff we're ashamed of, me included. Don't be afraid to talk to me, Joseph."

The kit took a few deep breaths, finally beginning to calm down. When he finally spoke, his voice was barely a whisper. "I hurt Jamie," he muttered.

"Okay," Nick said calmly. "Tell me what happened. It'll help, I promise."

Joseph sniffled before continuing. "I felt the…the darkness inside me. The animal, the one that's always been there. The one that only ever  _wants_. I felt the things that I've been feeling for her…bad things, disgusting things, things it makes me sick to think about…and she came over to me and…told me she loved me, and I…" He coughed, a dribble of saliva dripping from his lip.

Realizing the boy was going to retch again, Nick quickly grabbed the small garbage can from beside the bed and held it beneath Joseph's muzzle. He could only dry heave, though, as there was nothing left inside him to throw up.

Joseph wiped his mouth and took a sip from the bottle of water on his bedside table. "I did things to her, Nick," he uttered, a tremble in his voice. "I…I touched her. I tried to r-I tried to ra-"

Even as Joseph tried to speak the dreaded word, he was so overcome with shame and self-hatred that all he could do was grab a pillow to bite down on and scream into it. After a minute, although he could taste blood from his torn esophagus trickling down his throat, Joseph managed to speak again.

" _I tried to rape her, Nick_ ," the kit managed to choke out. "She was  _begging_  me to stop, but I didn't want to."

"It was a dream, Joseph," Nick assured him again. "Okay? It wasn't real. You would never do that."

"But I've wanted to," Joseph admitted sullenly. "Sometimes, when I look at her, I feel this… _thing_ inside me that just wants to grab her, and do things to her—"

"Joseph, you are a  _man._ What you are feeling is a  _biological urge_ , alright? And from what Judy's told me, it can be even worse for rabbits, especially females. Jamie is more than likely feeling the same things you are. It's a natural thing that everyone goes through."

"It is  _anything_ but natural, Nick," Joseph countered. "It is a  _monster,_ a  _demon_ that I have carried with me since I was a kid. This…this  _thing_  inside me has ruled my life for years, even after HYDRA. And I  _cannot_  let it get to Jamie, Nick. I  _can't_  let it hurt her."

"You won't, buddy," Nick said, embracing his son once again. "We all have our demons, okay? We all have our monsters to fight. And I know that you're strong enough to fight yours."

"But what if I can't, Nick?" the kit asked. "And even if I can, what if Jamie looks inside me and sees all the horrible things I think about? Things I want to do to others, things I want to do to her…"

"If she's even a tenth the person that her sister is, she will stand by you and help you through it, no matter what," the older fox stated emphatically. He placed another tender, fatherly kiss upon Joseph's brow, hugging his son to him all the more tightly. "You're a good man, Joseph, a brave, strong man. Don't let this devil inside you tell you any different."

Joseph's only response was to bury his face in his father's shoulder, barely able to choke out a fervent supplication from the depths of his broken soul.

" _God, have mercy on her_ ," he muttered. " _God, have mercy on me_."

* * *

Although the straight black coffee that he was currently chugging at the kitchen table was only about ten degrees away from boiling, Joseph found the burn of the bitter liquid soothing to his aching throat. It hurt even worse this morning than it had after he had been sick last night, and his ribs felt like they'd been stepped on by an elephant from all the retching he did. At least he was no longer shaking like a leaf in fear and shame.

It had been about 1:30 in the morning when Joseph had awoken from his nightmare, and it had taken him almost two hours to get back to sleep—and, even then, he found himself awake again at 5:30, gritty memories of his time with HYDRA and wandering the world flitting through his mind. At that point, he figured, he might as well get up and make some coffee, considering that he was going to be exhausted all day anyway.

Joseph placed his elbow on the table and leaned his forehead into his paw, the memories of his horrible nightmare rising to the surface of his mind once again and causing the two pieces of toast he'd eaten to churn in his stomach. Though he had already spoken with Nick about the nightmare last night, he felt as though he should probably tell Jamie about it, at least to some extent—but, that was easier said than done. It was one thing to talk about such a nightmare with a man who acted as a father to Joseph, and another thing entirely to discuss it with his own girlfriend, who had been the subject of the dream. He imagined the way she would look at him when he told her what he'd done in the dream—imagined her backing away in fear, disgust in her sky-blue eyes.

The fox let out a sigh. He knew that they would have to talk about it at one point or another, but right now he was just too ashamed of himself for even having such thoughts in his mind in the first place. He would tell her, one day—so long as she hadn't come to her senses and dumped him by then.

As these and other morbid thoughts flitted around Joseph's brain, he heard the soft footfalls of a rabbit on the hardwood floor of the hallway, and, a second later, Judy had rounded the corner into the kitchen, tiredly rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Morning, Joseph," she yawned, stretching her arms above her head so that the hem of her carrot-patterned nightshirt lifted barely half a centimeter, revealing a tiny strip of Judy's gray-and-white fur. The fox felt a stab of fire and nausea go through him at the sight.

 _Oh, give me a break_ , he thought sullenly.  _Not her, too. As if I don't have enough carnal guilt on my conscience already._  He chose to keep these thoughts to himself, however, opting instead to merely grunt the word "Morning" weakly at the bunny.

"What are you doing up so early?" Judy asked him as she made her way to the coffee pot. "Got another morning date with Jamie?"

The fox shuddered at the concept. "Couldn't sleep," he responded honestly. "Bad dream."

"Oh," the bunny said, the playfulness leaving her voice only to be replaced by concern. "Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?"

Joseph shook his head. "I talked with Nick about it last night," he responded. "He heard me throwing up, I guess."

"You threw up?" Judy asked as she sat down at the table. "It was that bad?"

The fox nodded. "Yeah," he said tiredly. "It was…probably the worst one I've had."

Judy looked at him with a motherly concern that made his heart twist in shame. "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" she asked gently. "You know I'm here if you—"

"I know, Judy," Joseph interrupted, trying to keep the impatient bite out of his voice. The conversation was beginning to make him feel nauseous again. "I just—it's kind of a guy thing, okay?"

The bunny was silent for a moment. "Was it about Jamie?" she asked quietly at last.

As soon as she said it, Joseph felt the miniscule contents of his stomach churn, and he bolted over to the kitchen sink and retched into it violently, hardly anything coming up.

"Joseph!" Judy cried, hopping up from the chair to place a comforting paw on the small of his back as he spit into the sink. "Jeez, what kind of dream did you have about my sister?"

"Don't ask me, Judy," the kit begged, the acidic taste of regurgitated coffee burning his throat, his arms trembling once again as he gripped the edge of the sink. "Please, don't ask me to tell you. I can't. I…it's too horrible."

"Buddy, it was just a dream," the bunny said softly, rubbing her paw in a circle on Joseph's back as her sister had done yesterday in the church. "It wasn't real—"

"It was real enough," the fox insisted, grabbing a glass from the cabinet and filling it with water from the tap. He rinsed out his mouth and spit into the sink, filling the glass again and chugging it vigorously. "Dreams are an expression of our unconscious and subconscious thoughts," he said once he had downed three glasses. "Except this was stuff that I had consciously thought about before. That's what made it so horrible, because all the evil, disgusting little things that flit through my head were brought out into the open like some sort of macabre show-and-tell."

"Jamie and I both know that you would never do anything to hurt her," Judy assured him.

"Are you sure about that?" Joseph said with a bite in his voice. "Because I seem to remember a good deal of trust and confidence right before I tried to  _eat you alive_."

The bunny cast her eyes downward. "I thought we had moved past that."

"I am  _never_  going to move past that," Joseph responded, staring blankly into the sink. "Not really."

"Joseph, come on," the bunny encouraged him. "We're family, okay? There's no dream you can ever have that would make us love you any less."

The kit bowed his head in guilt, his heart pounding as he deliberated on what to say. "You told me that if I ever hurt her, I would wish that I had killed Cain," he muttered eventually. "I dreamt I hurt her last night, Judy."

"Buddy, I know you would never actually hit her—"

"I didn't hit her," the fox said mournfully. His next words were barely audible, even to Judy's rabbit hearing. " _I touched her_ ," he whispered.

Judy's paw unconsciously twitched away from Joseph's back, her feet involuntarily carrying her slowly away from him. "What do you mean, you touched her?" she asked carefully.

Joseph coughed before responding. "I've had feelings for her since the day we met," he explained. "But the day we went skating, and she fell on top of me, it—it woke something up inside me, Judy. An animal that I've been trying to keep caged since I was young, but still manages to rule my life. That animal's been trying to get out more and more lately, especially since our date. I keep having these  _thoughts—_ " he shuddered as he spoke the word, jamming a finger against his temple to indicate their origin, "—thoughts about Jamie, about  _doing things_  to her. It's like there's a side of me that just wants to protect her and keep her happy, but then, there's another side, a darker side, a side that just  _wants_  her."

A sob tore its way out of Joseph's lips as shameful tears began to fall from his eyes. "I'm lusting after her, Judy," he said tearfully. "Nick says it's normal and biological, but it just feels so, so  _wrong._ I dreamt last night that all these things came to the surface, and she was hugging me, and I—I tried to—"

"Stop," Judy said suddenly. "Joseph, please, just stop. You…you don't have to say any more."

The fox's shoulders began to shake with heavy sobs. " _I'm so sorry,_ " he groaned. "I'm so scared, Judy. I—I love her, but I'm so scared that I'm going to lose control, and—" He let out a cry as if he was in pain, and turned to walk towards her with his face in his paws, but only managed to fall back against the sink, sliding to the ground in despair. "Oh, God, Judy,  _what do I do?_ "

Still somewhat schocked by the things he'd told her, but nonetheless full of sympathy, Judy cautiously helped Joseph to his feet and over to the kitchen chair. "First, you need to calm down, okay?" she said gently. "Deep breaths, buddy, deep breaths."

The kit obeyed her command, and, within a few minutes, his sobs had subsided into shaky breaths.

"There," Judy said, taking her seat. "Joseph, look at me.  _Look at me._ "

Joseph raised his shame-filled eyes to hers.

"It was  _not_  real, okay?" she told him. "Thoughts and dreams aren't actions, and your actions tell me that the part of you that wants to protect my sister is much stronger than the part that wants to…use her."

"But what if one day it's not?" the kit countered. "What if, one day, we're…we're at her apartment, and we're kissing, and I try to—"

"If she doesn't want it, she'll tell you," the doe assured him. "And if she tells you, I know for a fact that you will stop."

"But what if I—"

"Joseph!" the bunny yelled in sudden frustration. " _You will stop_ , okay? I know that for a  _fact_ , just as much as I know that Nick would do the same with me. I trust you, Joseph. You need to learn to trust yourself."

The fox heaved a deep sigh, the nausea finally passing as he set his elbow on the table and leaned his forehead into his paw. "I love her, Judy," he whispered sadly. "I haven't even known her for a month, but I love her more than I thought I could ever love anyone or anything. I…I just want nothing more than to be the kind of man she deserves. I want to make her happy."

"You  _do_  make her happy, Joseph," the rabbit reassured him kindly. "Did you know that she called me after you guys went to church yesterday to talk to me about your date?"

Joseph shook his head slightly.

"Well, she did," Judy told him. "And do you know what she said to me? She said 'thank you'. She said, 'Thank you, Judy, for introducing me to him'. She said that you are one of the best people she's ever known and that that night was unquestionably the best night of her life. She said that-" The bunny paused suddenly, her breath catching slightly in her throat as she thought about yesterday's video call. It had been so sweet it had brought tears to her eyes. "Jamie told me that you make her world brighter," Judy continued at last. "She told me that you are like a star to her, shining in the darkness. She told me 'Judy, I don't even want to  _think_ about a life that doesn't have Joseph Wilde in it."

Joseph raised his eyes to Judy's, shocked that Jamie would say such sweet things about him. "She really said that?" he asked her in disbelief.

"She did," the bunny responded. "Jamie knows what kind of person you are, Joseph, a  _good_  person, and she trusts you. Everybody knows how good you are...except you."

"That's because you can't see inside me, Judy," the reynard retorted. "If you could look inside my head, my heart, you'd run away screaming. I might look like a good person, but deep down, underneath…I'm still just an animal."

"It's not who you are underneath, Joseph," Judy said tenderly. "It's what you  _do_ that defines you. And what I've seen you do more than anything else is love."

The fox merely sighed in response, too exhausted to argue any further.

Judy spent a few minutes silently sipping her coffee as Joseph gazed out the kitchen window, watching the sky slowly lighten from indigo to pink. Once she had finished her cup, she stood up, walked over to Joseph, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"You're gonna be okay, Joseph," she told him. "It's all going to work out, you'll see."

"I hope so," the kit said softly in response. "I really hope so."


	25. The Hurt and the Healing

When Nick and Judy arrived home after work, they found Joseph sitting on the living room sofa, his eyes trained on the ZNN report playing on the TV. Nick walked up behind him and playfully tousled the fur on top of his head, prompting the kit to swipe at his paw in false annoyance.

"How's it going, buddy?" Nick asked as he leaned over the back of the couch.

"Not bad," Joseph responded. "Just been sitting around all day."

"You feeling better?" he asked quietly, not wanting Judy to overhear.

Joseph nodded slowly. "I'm okay," he said, his voice hushed as he passed a tired paw across his face. "Just tired."

"Well," the older fox said, clapping his paws down on the younger's shoulders, "how about we get you up and moving, huh?"

Joseph looked up at Nick with a curious expression. "What did you have in mind?" the kit asked.

"Well, if you don't think it's too cheesy," Nick said carefully, not wanting to push anything on the kit, "Carrots was digging around in some of my old stuff the other day and found an old baseball and a couple of mitts." He gave the boy's shoulders a gentle squeeze. "You wanna play catch?"

Joseph's eyebrows went up. "Weren't you and Judy supposed to go see a movie tonight?" he asked.

"Yeah, but we had a long day and Carrots is pretty beat, so we decided to just stay home tonight," Nick replied. "So, what do you say?"

Joseph smiled wide, his heart warmed by the fatherly affection shining through Nick's eyes. "Yeah," he said. "I'd really like that."

Nick smiled right back at him. "Then up you get, Star-Fox!" he said gleefully, gripping the kit under the armpits and hauling him to his feet. "It's warmed up pretty well outside, so we won't be freezing our tails off, at least."

"'Star-Fox'?" Joseph said with a laugh. "What's that all about?"

"Every kid needs a nickname, bud," Nick replied, clapping a paw down on his son's shoulder, hoping he wasn't coming on too strong. "Can't go around all the time calling you 'Joseph'. Way too formal."

"Okay," the younger fox said, conceding. "But why 'Star-Fox'?"

A far-away look momentarily crossed Nick's face, almost so fast that Joseph didn't notice it. "Just sounded good," the elder reynard replied. "Why? Do you not like it?"

Joseph thought a moment, then gave a tiny nod of affirmation. "Star-Fox sounds good," he said, a wry smile crossing his lips.

Nick pulled his son into a quick side-hug before heading down the hallway. "Then let's play some ball, Star-Fox!" he said almost giddily.

Soon, Nick had grabbed the baseball and mitts from the hall closet, and the two foxes were standing several yards apart from each other in the apartment complex's small backyard, the late afternoon sunlight illuminating the easy, contented smiles on both of their faces as they casually tossed the ball back and forth between them.

Three stories above them, Judy watched the pair from the small outdoor balcony at the rear of the apartment, the stress of the day fading from her thoughts as her heart swelled at the sight of how fatherly Nick could be. They'd pulled over half a dozen mammals today, three of which were carrying drugs, two of which had felony warrants, and one that was actually a 13-year-old gnu taking his dad's Volkswagen for a joy ride. A couple of the mammals had even gotten violent, and one, a coyote who turned out to be a wanted drug dealer, had pulled a knife on Judy. The speed and chivalry with which Nick had kicked the mammal clear across the street had made her feel more than a little warm under the collar--though tasing him would have been much more according to procedure.

Now, as she stood on the balcony of their apartment looking down to where her lover was playing with his adopted son, she couldn't help but wistfully place her chin in her paw as she thought of him.  _When are you gonna do it, you big, dumb fox?_ she thought to herself. She could see that Joseph's amber eyes were alight with joy and peace as he simply played catch with the man that was his father in all the ways that really mattered. The same serenity was shining in the eyes of her partner, and for the millionth time she reminded herself that Nick Wilde was the One.  _When are you gonna ask me the question you know I'll say yes to? When are you going to make me the happiest rabbit that's ever lived?_

As if in response to her silent thoughts, Judy's phone rang loudly from within the apartment. After jumping slightly at the sudden noise, Judy walked through the sliding glass door, down the hall and into the kitchen where her phone lay on the table. She picked up the phone and realized she was getting a call from her father.

Judy had only spoken to her parents a couple of times since Joseph had moved in, once after the attack in the alley, and again following the incident at Lou's LaGrotto. Both times, they had called after seeing reports of the incidents on ZNN, naturally being worried sick that their daughter had been hurt. She had assured them that all was fine, and informed them that she and Nick had taken in a young fox who had nowhere else to stay. They had been hesitant to accept the idea at first—despite everything, they still had remnants of their old prejudices against foxes—but Judy had assured the couple that Joseph was perfectly safe and was actually very kind and caring. Trusting her judgement, they had accepted that Joseph would be staying with her and her partner for the time being, and had told her to keep safe.

Judy pressed the "accept" key on the phone and raised it to her ear. "Hey, Dad!" she answered cheerily.

" _Hey, Jude the Dude!_ " the buck on the other end responded playfully. " _How's it goin', bun?_ "

"Oh, not bad _,_ " Judy responded, lazily sitting back in the kitchen chair to stare at the large pile of dishes she knew needed washing. "Just sitting around, watching Nick and Joseph play catch."

" _Joseph?_ " her father asked, momentarily confused. " _Oh, right, the kit that was staying with you guys! He's…he's still there, huh?_ " Judy could hear the concern and suspicion in his voice.

"Yes, Dad, he's still here," the bunny replied wearily. "He doesn't have anywhere else to go, and…we've all gotten really close lately, like a little family. You should see the way he and Nick act together, it's adorable. If I didn't know any better, I'd say they were a long-lost father and son."

" _If you say so, hon,_ " her father said cautiously. " _Say, uh, speaking of families, you, Jamie, and Nick are coming out for Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks, right?_ "

"Oh, for sure!" Judy assured him. "Do you mind if we bring along a couple guests?"

" _Who do you want to bring?_ "

"Well, Nick's mom has been on my back for  _months_  about meeting the rest of my family," the bunny answered. "And if we don't bring her along, she'll be all alone on Thanksgiving. Same for Joseph. I trust you and mom can find a couple extra seats at the table."

" _Oh, definitely, hon, definitely,_ " Mr. Hopps said. " _It's just…_ " Judy could hear the tension in her father's voice. " _Look, Jude, your mother and I trust that you know what you're doing, and we know how strong you are, and we know you'll be okay as long as Nick's there,_ "—this statement simultaneously made Judy's heart flutter and stung her pride—" _but, Judy…are you sure about this fox kit you've taken in? I mean, he's homeless and he'll hardly tell you anything about himself, he could be a psychotic serial killer for all we—_ "

"Dad," Judy interrupted impatiently, "I happen to know quite a lot about Joseph, I just don't feel it's my place to share the details of his life with you guys. He's had a really,  _really_ bad go of things, and I can't blame him if he doesn't really want to lay his trauma out in front of his g—" The doe stopped herself short, realizing that she had almost revealed Jamie and Joseph's relationship—which would be unspeakably awkward, considering her parents didn't even know about her and Nick yet. "In front of his friends' parents," she corrected herself quickly.

Her father didn't seem to notice the slip. " _I understand that, Jude,_ " he told her, " _but you're our daughter. It's our job to worry about you, especially when there's a strange fox involv—_ "

"Wait," the doe said, her voice suddenly tense, "are you so worried about Joseph because he was homeless and you don't know much about him, or is it just because he's a  _fox_?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line. " _Now, Judy, you know that's not fair—_ "

"Oh, I think it's more than fair, Dad," Judy responded, her tone becoming angry. "I thought that after working with Gideon and getting to know Nick—you know, my partner, my best friend, the guy who saved both my career  _and_  my life—I thought that after all that, you and mom would've finally gotten over this stupid prejudice you have against foxes."

" _Jude, it's not that simple—_ "

"It  _is_ that simple, Dad!" the bunny nearly shouted, her throat beginning to close up in anger. " _God,_ I can't believe you guys sometimes. Jamie and I are going to be coming to Thanksgiving with three— _three_ foxes, okay? Nick, Joseph, and Mrs. Wilde. So, if you still have this big of a problem with foxes, I think we'll all just stay here and have our own Thanksgiving dinner. At least here that poor kit will know he's accepted and loved." The bunny wiped angry tears from her violet eyes as her father responded.

" _I'm sorry, Judy,_ " the buck said sincerely. " _It's just hard to get over something like this, you know? Look, just come out here, okay? I promise your mother and I will be perfectly respectful to Nick, his mom, and Johnny._ "

"His name is  _Joseph,_ Dad. And you had better be on your best behavior around him, because that kid has been through hell and back, even more than Nick, and he has enough self-esteem issues as it is. One time, he—he said something that brought back a bad memory and I started crying, and he felt horrible about it. You know what he did, Dad? He went into his bedroom and banged his head off the doorframe  _until he bled_ , because he felt like he had to punish himself for being a horrible person, all because something he mentioned made me cry. I don't even want to  _think_  about what he might do to himself if he hears you spouting some of that racist  _bullshit_  around him."

The buck was silent for a moment, stunned by his daughter's sudden vulgarity. " _Judy, hon, I promise that I will treat him like one of the family,_ " her father finally said apologetically. " _I'm sorry if I say stupid stuff sometimes, hon. I swear I'll make every one of them feel welcome, okay? In fact, why don't y'all head on out here the day before and we can have a nice, quiet little dinner together before the rest of the family arrives? Does that sound good?_ "

"Yeah, that sounds fine," the doe said, once again wiping her eyes on the pack of her gray-furred paw. "I guess I'll talk to you later, then."

" _Alright,_ " Stu said. " _I love you, Jude._ "

"Love you, too," Judy replied. "Give mom my love."

" _Will do. Buh-bye._ "

"Bye," the bunny said, ending the call.

Judy laid her phone on the table, staring blankly at a spot to the left of the sink.  _I bet that's what I sounded like at the press conference,_ the doe thought idly.  _Just another bigoted, carrot-farming dumb bunny._ She silently thanked her stars that Jamie seemed not to have inherited any of their parents' deep-seated prejudices towards foxes.

Knowing that dwelling on the conversation with her father would only anger her further, Judy got up and started working on the pile of dirty dishes. She was vigorously trying to scrub burnt mozzarella off of a baking sheet an hour later when the two foxes walked through the front door again. She faintly heard Joseph say that he was going to jump in the shower. When Judy heard the kitchen door swing open behind her, she turned and saw Nick stride toward the fridge and grab a can of Coke, seating himself lazily at the table. "Heya, Carrots," he said as he popped the tab on the soda can.

"Hey there, Blueberry," Judy responded, using the pet name that she knew always got Nick's goat. She was rewarded for her antagonism with a silent roll of his emerald eyes. "You boys have fun out there?"

"About as much fun as you can have tossing a ball back and forth for an hour," the fox replied as he took a sip of his drink.

"Oh, don't pretend you weren't enjoying yourself out there," the rabbit scolded playfully, turning back to the dishes. "I saw the smile you had on your face while you were playing with Joseph."

The fox let out a chuckle. "Yeah. It was actually pretty fun. Hey, you need any help with those dishes?"

"If you wanna start drying them, that'd be great," Judy replied.

"Can do!" Nick said as he hopped up from his chair, grabbing a towel from the drawer and beginning to wipe off the plates. "Hey, you know that old guitar I've got sitting in storage?"

"The one you got at the Kitty Loggins concert when you were 20?"

"Yeah, that one."

"Sure, I know it," Judy said as she passed Nick the now clean baking sheet. "What about it?"

"Well, I was telling Joseph about the concert and mentioned the guitar, and he asked if I knew how to play, so I said yeah, and guess what?" He turned to his partner, a glowing smile splitting his face. "He wants me to teach him to play!"

"Really?" Judy replied. "That's great, Nick!"

"Yeah," the fox said, gazing serenely out the window. "Once he's out of the shower we're gonna head down to storage and grab the guitar and we'll have our first lesson tonight. It'll be good to have something to take his mind off of--" Nick suddenly fell silent, realizing what he had been about to say.

"Take his mind off of what?" Judy asked, fairly certain she already knew the answer.

"Nothing," Nick said, putting on his conman face. It was as flawless as ever, but Judy was getting quite good at seeing through it. "I just think he's still a little nervous about this whole 'having a girlfriend' thing, is all."

"Joseph told me about his dream, Nick," the bunny proclaimed outright.

Nick stopped halfway through wiping off a thick glass pie dish. "He did?" he asked cautiously, slowly turning to face his lover.

"Yeah, this morning," Judy replied, continuing to scrub. "I think I pushed him a little too far..."

"It's not your fault, Carrots," he said reassuringly. "I feel like sometimes Joseph still thinks of himself as a monster. Though, Jamie definitely seems to be helping with that," the fox finished with a sly grin.

"Quiet, you," said Judy, a playful tone in her voice as she splashed a bit of dishwater at Nick, who dodged it easily. "That's my baby sister you're talking about." As her thoughts turned to her family, the bunny let out a little sigh. "I just hope my parents are a tenth as kind to him as she's been."

"What do you mean, your parents?" Nick asked, confused.

"Oh, that's right, I forgot to tell you!" she exclaimed. "My dad called while you two were outside and invited us all to Thanksgiving dinner. He even wants us to come out the day before so we can have a smaller get-to-know-you type dinner."

"Great!" replied the reynard. "Who all's included in this party?"

"Well, you and me, obviously, then Jamie and Joseph, and your mom."

"Oh,  _finally,_ " Nick groaned, letting his head fall backwards in a gesture of relief. "I don't know how much more of this 'When am I going to meet my future in-laws' stuff I can take. If it was every once in a while, okay, but when it's  _every time we talk..._ "

"You know you love your little nighttime chats with mommy," Judy said teasingly.

"Do I know that?" Nick responded, pausing briefly after he said it. "Yes," he finally said with a nod, his voice softer and more sincere, "yes, I do."

Nick had spoken to his mother on the phone almost every night for the last nine months, and gone out to eat with her at least once a week since they had patched things up following the Night Howler Crisis. It was a very drastic change over what their relationship had been previously-which was, essentially, nonexistent.

As Nick had told Joseph during his little pep-talk last week, he and his mother had not spoken for nearly fifteen years, since the fox had moved out of his mother's apartment at eighteen. Though his father's death from cancer at age seven had strengthened their relationship rather than harmed it, Nick's bond with Mrs. Wilde had begun to deteriorate shortly after he had been attacked by the Ranger Scouts. The trauma from the incident--which he had, of course, repressed--started to manifest as anger and even some acts of violence. It had started out with vandalism and petty theft, then advanced to getting into fights, suspensions from school, and even an expulsion. There were several occasions in his teens when Nick had been escorted back to his mother's apartment by the police after one offense or the other. He'd started his hustling schemes at twelve, but sixteen was when things had really taken a turn for the worse. At that point, Nick began to drink and do drugs, starting off with lighter things like beer, marijuana, and cold medicine to offer him an escape from reality. By the time he was eighteen, however, the then-kit had moved on to harder stuff--vodka and whiskey, cocaine, LSD, and at one point had even tried heroin. When Nick's mother had finally confronted him about his behavior, she had given him an ultimatum--get clean or get out, because she refused to continue to support behavior that would more than likely lead to an early grave. So, of course, being the mammal that he was back then, Nick had proverbially slapped his mother in the face, packed his bags, and walked out of their home to live his care-free, self-destructive life, leaving Mrs. Wilde's gentle, loving heart shattered on the floor behind him.

During his fifteen years of prodigal living, Nick had thought he was having the time of his life--it wasn't until he came an inch away from death from an overdose at age 29 that he realized the only thing he was doing was killing himself. He'd gotten himself cleaned up and started pulling some more "wholesome" hustles, as he called them, but he was still living a life for himself. It wasn't until he'd met Judy that his life had truly turned around, this time for the better--for the infinitely better.

Judy had helped Nick heal a lot of wounds and taught him a lot of lessons, but the most important thing she taught him was how to love. Not just to love others, but also how to love and forgive himself. The single greatest gift that that perfect little bunny had given him, however--besides the gift of herself--was convincing him to reconcile with his mother. It had taken more than a little bit of poking and prodding to win him over, not because he was angry at her--after all, the only thing she had ever done was love him and care for him as best she could--but because he was so deeply ashamed. He was terrified that his mother would look at him for the first time in fifteen years and only see the monster that had broken her heart so long ago. But, as had so often been the case in the tumultuous life of Nicholas Wilde, he was utterly and completely wrong.

When Nick knocked three times on the door of the tiny downtown apartment with Judy at his side, he was certain that he would die of a heart attack before anyone could open the door. The few seconds of silence were deafening and eternal, and the only thing that anchored the terrified vulpine to reality was the bunny's paw clenched tightly but warmly around his wrist in comfort. Then, after what seemed like millennia, the faded wooden door finally swung open, and Nick saw his mother for the first time in fifteen years.

Mrs. Lisa Wilde was a tall and slender vixen, her fur coloration almost identical to that of her son. She stood barely half an inch shorter than Nick, dressed in a modest lavender blouse and checkered skirt with an apron over the top, a dish towel wiping water from her russet paws. Aside from a few streaks of gray beginning to show in the deep orange fur of her cheeks, she was practically unchanged by the passage of time. "Hello," she said sweetly in a voice that instantly caused tears of joy and shame to press against the backs of Nick's emerald eyes, identical to those of his mother. He had always had the odd notion in his head that his mom's voice was what chocolate would sound like, if such a thing were possible. The kind vixen's eyes first found Judy, standing to Nick's right with a professional smile on her face, dressed in her police uniform. They then flitted over to Nick, steadily taking in his khaki pants and light-blue Hawaiian shirt before ascending to his face. "How can I he--"

Mrs. Wilde's sentence stopped abruptly when she met the eyes of the fox in her doorway, the exact same eyes that she saw looking back at her every time she looked in the mirror. The dish towel fell forgotten from her paws, which she raised to her muzzle as she sucked in a shocked breath. Judy's sensitive rabbit hearing could actually hear her heart rate skyrocket, almost perfectly matching Nick's own.

"Oh--m-m-my..." the vixen stuttered out from behind her paws, her voice catching as she slowly lowered them to her sides. Nick noticed that the russet appendages had the slightest tremble to them, and a fist of worry gripped his heart.

"N-n-n-n- _Nick?_ " Mrs. Wilde barely managed to say through the tears that were beginning to fall onto her cheeks. "N-n-Nicky? Is th-th-that...you?"

Even with all the practice he'd had over the last twenty years, all the experience he had in never letting anyone see that they got to him, Nick felt every ounce of strength leave him as he looked into his mother's eyes once more. The floodgates in his eyes and his heart burst open, silent tears beginning to stream down his face as his lower lip trembled like a leaf in a hurricane. Looking back, Nick thought that it had only been the pressure of Judy's paw on his arm that gave him the strength to speak.

" _Hi, Mom_ ," the fox barely managed to choke out, his voice cracking like glass as a sob tore itself from his chest, and his body physically shaking with the effort it took to not break down completely then and there.

A sound that was somewhere between a sob and a laugh emanated from Lisa Wilde's gray-streaked muzzle as she lunged forward through the doorway to wrap her arms around her son, squeezing his shoulders so tightly one would think they ought to have shattered. " _NICKY!"_ the vixen sobbed into his shoulder, a shudder running through her as she felt the arms of her prodigal son slowly but surely wrap around her in turn. Keeping her paws clenched tightly on his shoulders, she pulled back to look into her son's face, so different and yet so perfectly the same as the last time they had spoken. She raised a paw and laid it against his cheek with the tenderness that only a mother could show. "Oh, my God, my Nicky, m-m-my sweet, precious, baby boy, it's you!  _It's really you!_ "

Everything inside of Nick Wilde broke like a cheap lightbulb when his mother grabbed his face in her gentle paws and began to ferociously smother him with kisses, ten, fifty, one hundred kisses, all the kisses that she wished she could have given him over the years that they had been apart. The fox's knees buckled underneath him, and his grip on his mother's shoulders brought her down to the ground alongside him. " _Mom,_ " the former conman sobbed, sounding as though he was in physical pain. "Oh, God, Mommy, I'm sorry, I'm so,  _so sorr_ \--"

"Don't," Mrs. Wilde said, pulling back again to clasp her son's face in her paws as tears continued to flow freely from her striking emerald eyes. The gesture was exactly the same as the one Nick would one day use with Joseph as he told him he loved him. "You don't have to apologize, sweetheart.  _I love you, Nicky._  Oh, my darling baby boy, I love you so much!" She pulled him once again into a motherly embrace as Nick completely dissolved into tears, unable to speak, letting his sobs say everything that he couldn't put into words. It took everything that Judy had to keep from starting to bawl as well as she watched Nick's mother tenderly stroke the back of his neck, the pair rocking back and forth as she whispered comfort to him.

"The past doesn't matter, sweetie," Lisa crooned to her son. "None of it matters, because  _you are mine._ Mine to  _me._ You are the light of my life. My precious son... _my little Star-Fox._ "

_I wonder if that's how Joe felt_ , Nick thought idly as he returned to the present, his slightly damp paws wiping off a saucer and returning it to the cabinet.  _When I called him 'ohana. Heh. If he felt even a tenth of the love I felt then...well, maybe I'm not such a screw-up after all._

* * *

The evening passed quietly and peacefully thereafter. Once they were done with the dishes, Nick took Joseph down to his old storage locker in Tundratown and grabbed his guitar, making a quick stop at a local music store to grab a few lesson books. When they returned to the apartment, Nick was floored by how quickly Joseph learned to strum the instrument--it was almost like he had an innate ability with it. By seven o'clock, the kit had mastered the basic chords and scales and played a flawless rendition of "Mary Had A Little Bug". Before long, Joseph was strumming artfully at the guitar, his nimble fingers--finally having adjusted to his new body--plucked at the strings as he practiced a classic country song.

"Alright, intro is...Am-C-D, Am-C-D," Nick said as he enlarged the sheet music on the screen of his laptop, setting it on the coffee table. Joseph was seated next to him, the guitar held comfortably in his arms as though it were the most natural thing in the world. "Let's see how you handle a little bit of Cash," the elder fox said with a grin.

"'Cash'?" Judy asked from the recliner nearest the front door, where she sat in her PJs with a small glass of wine, an easy smile on her face as she watched the two foxes. "I didn't know you were getting paid for this, Joseph," she joked.

" _Johnny_ Cash, Carrots," Nick answered, his eyes lidded in a joking expression. "He's a country artist."

"And a great one, at that," Joseph added as he strummed out a quick scale in preparation. "This song I'm gonna try here is actually a cover from a different band, but his version is  _so_ much better."

"Well, let's hear it, Star-Fox!" the bunny said, raising her glass to him. She figured she might as well join in in using the kit's new nickname--the same that Nick's mother still used for him.

"Alrighty, here we go," Joseph said with an easy smile, settling himself into position. Then, with black claws plucking gently at the strings, Joseph began to play a slow, mournful tune, and soon began to softly croon out the lyrics of the song. His voice was quiet and velvety, exactly the way it had been when Judy heard him in his room on the day they met.

_I hurt myself today_

_To see if I still feel_

_I focus on the pain_

_The only thing that's real_

_The needle tears a hold_

_The old familiar sting_

_Try to kill it all away_

_But I remember everything_

As the song gently shifted into the chorus, Joseph's voice became just a little louder, the depth and emotion of the words he sang filling the small apartment.

_What have I become_

_My sweetest friend?_

_Everyone I know_

_Goes away in the end_

_And you could have it all_

_My empire of dirt_

_I will let you down_

_I will make you hurt_

Joseph moved into a brief instrumental section, and Judy could see in the way his eyes were focused intently on the laptop screen that he had gone into his own little world, just like he had when had sung "Go the Distance". Though they were set on the song's lyrics, the kit's eyes also had a far-away look about them, the emotion of the song shining through them like unshed tears.

_I wear this crown of thorns_

_Upon my liar's chair_

_Full of broken thoughts_

_I cannot repair_

_Beneath the stains of time_

_The feelings disappear_

_You are someone else_

_I am still right here_

As the song moved into the chorus once more, Judy's face fell from Joseph's, her eyes beginning to shine. The way that Joseph was singing the words of the song told her that he believed them-that he still somewhat believed that he was broken and unlovable, that his whole world was an empire of dirt and ashes.  _I wish I could tell you, Joseph,_ she thought sullenly to herself.  _I wish I could tell you what else Jamie told me last night when she called, but that's not for me to say. You think you let everyone down, that you always hurt them, but you don't._ Judy thought back to the conversation with her sister, the words she had said echoing in her mind. "Jude, I know it's...crazy, and-and cheesy," she had told her, "but...I've never felt this way about anyone before. Joseph is so sweet, and kind, and amazing, and I just-" Judy heard a sniffle on the other end of the line, and had to admit that a tear fell from her own eye as she heard the words that Jamie spoke next. "Judy, I... _I think I'm in love with him._ "

_If I could start again_

_A million miles away_

_I will keep myself_

_I would find a way_


	26. The Law of the Jungle

"You sure you don't want to come in?" Jamie asked with a sparkle in her eye. "Just to sit together? Maybe…" She stood up on her toes and just barely grazed the soft, caramel fur of her cheek against Joseph's. "Cuddle a little bit?" she ended with a giggle.

The fox smiled but pulled away, feeling the fire ignite in his chest again at the warmth of Jamie's face against his. It had been almost a week and two dates (including this one) since he had had his nightmare, but its aftereffects had not quite faded yet. The pounding of his heart and the thoughts that flew through his mind as his girlfriend gently nuzzled him still twisted his heart and churned his stomach, even as her touch brought him unspeakable joy.

"I would absolutely love to," Joseph told her more or less truthfully, "but I am a gentleman, and so I will not be the one to incite a scandal."

"And what if I dragged you in?" the bunny said with a smirk as she took hold of his blue silk tie, pulling his face down to hers. "Would you be able to resist my dazzling rabbit charm?"

Joseph felt his mouth go dry and his heart begin to beat even faster as he felt the tiny puffs of Jamie's breath flow into his nose, sending his senses into overdrive again. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, silently praying that his girlfriend couldn't smell the testosterone flooding his veins.

"Don't tempt me, Miss Hopps," the fox said playfully but shakily. "I have the approximate willpower of a stick of celery."

"Well, I wouldn't want to take advantage of your fragility, Mr. Wilde," the doe said, softly brushing her lips against his in a kiss that sent the ecstatic flame rushing once more through his veins. "Not yet, anyway," she quipped.

The fox's only response was to stare down into Jamie's sky-blue eyes as he huffed and puffed like he had just finished a marathon, using every ounce of willpower he had to control his thoughts—and paws.

When Jamie noticed that he failed to speak and simply continued to breathe heavily, a concerned look crossed her face. "You okay?" she asked him, laying a gentle paw upon his russet cheek. "You look like you're in pain. Are you sick?"

Joseph shook his head quickly, trying to get his breathing under control. "No, no, I'm fine," he assured her, although the look in his eyes betrayed his nervousness. "It's just…"

"What?" the doe asked.

"You can get me a little riled up sometimes," Joseph replied with a nervous laugh. "I'm…still getting used to this whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing, I guess."

A dazzling smile broke across the bunny's face as she reached up and wrapped her paws around Joseph's neck. "I'll be good from now on," she said with a wink. "I wouldn't want to sully my fox's chaste reputation."

"Oh, it's you I'm worried about," Joseph assured her, wrapping his arms around her waist gently as his voice took on a slightly more serious tone. "I…I just don't want to lose control one day and do something I'll regret."

"Oh, Joey," she said, causing a wonderful stab to go through his heart as she used his pet name, "I know you would never do anything to hurt me." She then pulled on his tie once again, bringing his lips to hers in a kiss that was simultaneously stronger and more tender than the last.

 _God, I hope you're right,_ the fox thought as he brought his paw up and laid it against the back of Jamie's head, the feeling of her warm ears against his paw pads making his head buzz like a beehive.

When, after a considerable amount of time, the couple finally pulled apart, Jamie softly rubbed her nose against the white fabric of Joseph's dress shirt. As she gently held herself against him, Joseph caught a familiar scent rolling off of the bunny—it was  _her_ scent, but different. It was stronger and mustier, almost wild—

The fox's eyes snapped open as he realized what the scent was.  _Oh,_ the thought, laying his paws on Jamie's shoulders and gently pushing her backwards through the open door of her apartment.  _Oh, Jamie, why did you have to make this harder than it already is?_

Instead of voicing his thoughts, Joseph chose instead to plant a tender kiss on the soft caramel fur of Jamie's brow. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, sweetie," he whispered, the term of endearment almost bringing tears to his eyes. "Good night."

"Good night, Grasshopper," the bunny said with a tiny giggle.

"Oh, we're doing nicknames now, are we?" Joseph asked her, already beginning to feel more at ease now that he was several inches away from her.

"Well, we've gone out three times now, and that's the only drink you've ordered, so…"

"It's a good drink!" the fox defended lightly. "At least I don't always carry around a bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in my bookbag."

"You don't go to school, foxy," the doe said with a grin. "And don't begrudge me my peanut butter cups. Sometimes they're all that gets me through the chemistry lectures."

"That's it!" Joseph announced with a clap of his paws. In spite of the alarm going off in his head, he approached Jamie once more and wrapped his arms around her waist, spinning her in a quick circle just inside the doorway. "You," he said in a faux English accent, "shall be my Buttercup."

An ecstatic grin split the rabbit's face, her pure white teeth nearly blinding Joseph with their beauty. "I think I can deal with that," she said. "So long as I get to see you dress in all black with a mask on and a rapier on your hip."

"As you wish," Joseph said playfully, and gave his girlfriend a final kiss goodnight before releasing her and backing away elegantly from the door. He bowed to her, barely brushing his lips against the back of her paw as he went. "Good night, sweet Buttercup," he said.

"Good night, valiant Grasshopper," Jamie retorted playfully, slowly backing into the apartment as Joseph turned and began walking down the hall to the stairwell. He heard the door shut behind him with a nearly imperceptible  _click_.

* * *

Once he had reached the lobby and exited the front doors of the Grand Pangolin Arms, the fox decided that he would walk home rather than hailing a cab. A warm wind had blown in earlier today, keeping most of downtown Zootopia and Savanna Central at a comfortable 62 degrees. As he walked down the lamp-lit street, Joseph thought back over the events of the last week.

Including tonight, he and Jamie had been on a total of three dates. Their first, of course, had been exactly one week ago at Bella Notte and Verdant, a night Joseph knew he would remember long after he had forgotten his own name. Their second had been on Wednesday-the one week night Jamie usually had off-when they had both agreed on a lower-key evening and opted to go to the movies. They had seen a horror flick called  _Leatherface,_ a slasher that Joseph had found bland and unrealistic, but which, much to his simultaneous delight and stress, had scared Jamie right into his arms. Tonight, they had gone to dinner in a café situated in the top canopy of the Rainforest District, followed by a nearly two-hour walk along the lakefront, during which the pair had idly chatted about nothing in particular, each simply glad to be in the company of the other.

Though he had promised her sister he would, Joseph still hadn't talked to Jamie about the nightmare he had had. He had a few different reasons for keeping it to himself—the first of course being that he felt too ashamed to tell her about the thoughts he was having. He didn't know if he could stand the look of revulsion that he was certain would enter her eyes the moment he told her about what he had tried to do in his dream. The fox knew that Jamie would most likely be forgiving—that was simply who she was—but he couldn't bear the idea of her looking at him differently after learning what he felt towards her.

 _Hey, dummy,_ a subconscious voice said inside his head,  _did you not smell her just now, or even when she nuzzled you before you even started dating? She's probably having the same thoughts and feelings you are._

Joseph swiftly shook the idea from his head as he rounded a corner onto Pine Boulevard, a slightly more run-down section of the downtown area.  _No,_ he thought to the voice.  _There's no way she could ever look at me that way. She could never_ …want  _me_.

 _You thought she'd never want to date you either, and yet, here we are,_ his inner voice retorted.  _Stop putting yourself down like you're some ugly dirtbag and accept the fact that Jamie is into you._

The fox decided to ignore his inner voice, trying instead to focus on something other than Jamie—sweet, beautiful, perfect Jamie, the girl that had made him happier in a month than he'd been in his whole life, the girl who looked at him as though he was the only person in the world worth being with, the precious bunny whom he was already beginning to picture in a flowing white gown—

Joseph was abruptly torn from his thoughts of church bells by the dimmer, yet much more present sound of gunfire from somewhere off to his left. His head instantaneously snapped toward the sound, listening closely to make sure he hadn't imagined it. When he heard two more shots ring out in the distance, accompanied by a male yell, he broke into a sprint without even thinking about it.

He ran nearly seven blocks inside of a minute, the only other animal he saw being an impressed-looking cheetah that gawked at his speed as he flew by her. He heard one last shot ring out, accompanied by a loud grunt and the sound of blows landing on flesh, and rounded a corner into the dimly-lit parking lot of a second-hand store, one that he recognized from when he had accompanied Nick and Judy on their patrols. In the space of half a second, Joseph took in the horrible scene before him.

Lying on the ground in a pool of pale orange light from the streetlamp above, a tigress feebly rolled onto her side and struggled to breathe, the knife wounds in her stomach and chest preventing her from doing so. Hot blood poured from the wounds onto the tigress' lemon-yellow blouse, the pale light of the streetlamp making it look like black oil. Raising his eyes, Joseph saw the figures of two mammals struggling a few feet away from a plain black car, one massive and black-furred, the other about a foot taller than Joseph himself with gray-and-white fur lining his face. The smaller mammal, who seemed to be a wolf, was caught in the hulking embrace of the larger, snarling and clawing at the beast's left arm in an attempt to free himself. The larger mammal, who seemed to be a bison, raised its right arm, allowing Joseph to catch a glint of light flashing off of the razor-sharp knife in its hoof.

In the instant it took Joseph to realize what was happening, the bison made its move. With incredible strength, the hulking animal brought the knife down across the wolf's neck, a startling red line appearing almost instantly on the white fur of his throat as a shower of blood sprayed out of the wound.

"NO!" Joseph shouted, putting every ounce of strength he had into his legs, moving so fast that he was sure he felt his ankles shatter. He was, however, not fast enough, for the damage had already been done. Joseph slammed into the bison's shoulder with the strength of a freight train, hearing a satisfying  _crack_ and a roar of pain emanating from the animal's muzzle. The wolf fell away weakly, clawing at the wound in his throat as Joseph tried to pin the bison down on the ground. He punched the bison full-on in the face, but was surprised when the mammal's hoof struck him in the chest with the force of a cannonball, throwing him backward and through the large window of the second-hand store. With the tinkling of broken glass and a multitude of stinging cuts, Joseph landed on the floor of the shop in front of a shelf full of old VHS tapes, the wind knocked clean out of him. He sat up quickly, his head spinning and the broken glass digging into his hands and feet as he tried to draw breath. Although he'd had exceptional training by HYDRA, they'd never taught him how to take on an opponent that was roughly five times his size-though it had been on the schedule.

With an aching cough, Joseph leapt back through the shattered window only to see the bison fleeing down the dimly-lit street, a red circle on his left shoulder slowly trickling blood onto the leather jacket he was wearing.

For a moment, the fox considered going after the mammal, but then glanced to his left and remembered that there were two mammals bleeding out on the ground. He shot a look across the parking lot to where the tigress lay, and saw to his despair that she was no longer moving, her shoulders lacking the steady rise and fall that came with breath. Even the pool of blood she was lying in had ceased to spread outward.

Knowing that there was nothing he could do to help her, Joseph turned his attention to the injured wolf. He stumbled over to him and fell to his knees at the wolf's side, quickly ripping off the expensive sports jacket Nick had bought him and pressing it against the bloody wound on the canine's throat. The wolf gazed up at him, fear shining through his crystal-blue eyes.

"You're gonna be okay," Joseph lied as he continued to apply pressure to the wound. "I—I'm gonna call for help." He removed his left paw and made to retrieve his phone from his pocket, but was stopped by a sudden gargle from the wolf's throat. He saw the canine raise his right paw and weakly tap on his left shoulder, indicating the object strapped to the blue fabric of his shirt.

As soon as Joseph saw what the object was, his heart sank. In a tenth of a second, he ran his eyes across the rest of the wolf's body, noticing that he was dressed in a deep blue shirt and pants with a black tie hanging loosely from his collar. A sob tore itself out of Joseph's throat as he looked at the wolf's chest where, just above his failing heart, there sat a gleaming golden shield inscribed with the words "Trust, Integrity, Bravery" encircling a golden star. His eyes flitted to the right side of the wolf's chest and were barely able to make out the name "Wolford" through the blood that covered the gilded nametag.

"You're a cop," Joseph said shakily. The mammal, Officer Wolford, nodded tersely, once again tapping the radio strapped to his shoulder. Joseph quickly grabbed the device, his shaking fingers fumbling at the buttons as he tried to find the one that would connect him to dispatch. When he heard a squawk and a faint static tone, Wolford nodded again, indicating that he could speak now.

"Joseph Wilde to dispatch, Joseph Wilde to dispatch, do you read?!" the fox screamed into the microphone. He released the mic button and waited for a reply, which came half a second later.

" _This is Clawhauser_ ," came a cheery voice from the other end of the radio. " _Who am I speaking to again?_ "

"My name's Joseph Wilde!" he shouted frustratedly into the device. "I'm friends with Nick and Judy! Please, there's an officer down at—" The fox quickly glanced over to the street corner, his eyes pulling their location from the street sign. "88th and Mango!" he said. "It's Officer Wolford, he's been attacked, he's had his throat cut and he's bleeding out—"

" _Hold on, hold on_ ," the cheetah replied in an infuriatingly calm voice. " _You said Officer Wolford is—_ "

" _JUST GET THE PARAMEDICS HERE NOW, GODDAMMIT!_ " Joseph screeched into the microphone. "For Chrissakes, he's bleeding out, a tiger is already dead, and the bad guy's taken off down the road, headed south on 88th! Send help NOW!"

" _Got it, got it_!" Clawhauser said nervously. Joseph dropped the mic to the ground, pressing his paws once again into the now blood-soaked coat on Officer Wolford's throat.

"You're gonna be alright," the fox lied again, applying as much pressure to the wound as he was sure was safe. "Help's on the way, they're going to save you."

The wolf responded by trying to say something, but the slit in his throat prevented him form forming a coherent word.

"No, no, don't talk!" Joseph said, trying to comfort him. "Just…save your energy, okay? Help is on the way."

Wolford ignored him, desperately trying to choke something out through the blood in his windpipe, this time managing to make a sound like "Shhhh".

"Officer, you've gotta stop trying to talk," the fox begged him, the sodden coat sliding down a bit over Wolford's bloody shirt. "You're just making it worse—" His admonition was cut off when the canine raised his paw again, this time clutching at his neck. Joseph thought he was clawing at his wound and tried to stop him, but then realized that he was grasping for something under his shirt, another "shh" noise escaping his bloody lips. Fear and worry coursed through Joseph's body as Wolford tugged a bloodied silver chain out from underneath his red-soaked collar, and the fox saw that it was hung with two intersecting triangles, one pointing upward and one pointing downward, forming a six-pointed star.

Joseph's eyes widened as he realized what the wolf was trying to say. " _Shh_ ," he gurgled out. " _Maa…yis…_ "

"You're Jewish," Joseph stated, his eyes catching on the bloodied silver of the officer's Star of David pendant. "You're Jewish, aren't you?"

Seemingly unable to choke out any more sounds, Wolford simply nodded, his limbs beginning to shake.

"It's okay," Joseph said quietly, momentarily removing his paw from the canine's neck so that he could place it comfortingly upon his brow. "I know it. I'll say it for you, don't worry." The fox's heart shattered as tears began to flow from Wolford's crystal-blue eyes. He knew he wasn't going to live long enough for the medics to get there, and he wanted to say his final prayer.

Joseph drew in a trembling breath, trying to be strong for the mammal dying under his paws as he softly began to say the ancient words of faith, which he had memorized during his more devout days of studying his own Christian faith. " _Sh'ma, Yisrael,_ " the fox said, his voice barely audible over the pounding of his heartbeat in his ears, " _Adonai eloheinu, Adonai echad. Baruch shem k'vod malchuto l'olam va'ed. V'ahavta eit Adonai elohecha, b'chawl l'vavecha, u'v'chawl nafshecha, u'v'chawl m'odecha._ "

The faintest smile of thanks spread across Wolford's lips as Joseph finished his recitation. He let out a cry, and then repeated the words, this time in English. "Hear, O Israel," he said, now crying openly, "the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. Blessed be the name of his kingdom forever and ever. And you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength."

As he felt Officer Wolford's body beginning to convulse beneath his paws, Joseph realized that there was no longer any point in applying pressure to the wound—there was nothing he could do, and the night was still silent, the air unbroken by any sirens. He removed his right paw from the sodden sports coat, reaching down and firmly grasping Wolford's paw in his own. The canine squeezed it weakly, the fading blue eyes meeting the burning amber.

"Stay with me, Wolford," Joseph begged him. "Come on, man, just—just hold out until the medics get here, okay? You—you're going to be fine."

The officer merely looked at Joseph, a look of serenity passing over his face as he gave Joseph's paw one last squeeze. He coughed violently, a spray of salty blood almost hitting Joseph in the face, and then he lay still, his crystal-blue eyes staring lifelessly into the night sky.

"No," Joseph cried weakly, reaching up to grasp Wolford's face and shaking his head. "No, no, no, NO! Wolford, come ON! Wake up, man, please!" He grabbed the canine by the shoulders and shook him violently, praying that life could be breathed back into his limp body. When no such miracle occurred, Joseph placed his paws on the wolf's chest and feverishly began trying to restart his heart.

"No, Wolford, come back!" he shouted, barely hearing the crack that came from the wolf's chest as he accidentally broke one of his ribs. "Wolford, please, man, don't go. Please, j-j-just c-come back…" He tilted the officer's head back and placed his lips on his, plugging the wolf's nose and ferociously blowing air into his lungs, only to be sickened by the whistling sound his breath made as it exited the hole in Wolford's throat.

Realizing that there was nothing more he could do, that the officer was truly gone, Joseph pounded his fist on the wolf's chest one last time and let out a gut-wrenching wail, then fell back on his haunches, his shoulders shaking with grief. He still didn't hear any sirens, the only sound breaking the stillness of the night being his own ragged sobs.

After weeping for almost a minute, Joseph wiped his eyes on the back of his paw, feeling the cop's still-warm blood smear across his face, and knelt back down next to Wolford's body, closing the officer's unseeing eyes with his fingers as he uttered a final prayer.

"May the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, welcome you into the light of his everlasting glory," Joseph said shakily. He wasn't sure if it was really a valid Jewish prayer, but it sounded right all the same. He then folded his paws together, laying them gently on Wolford's chest, and was silent for a moment. Then, feeling a tug in the depths of his memory, Joseph cast another glance at the cop's serenely still face, and bowed his head once more.

" _Now this is the Law of the Jungle_ ," the fox whispered through silent tears, " _as old and as true as the sky, and the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die_."

The night was utterly and absolutely silent as the tears of the fox fell and mixed with the blood of the wolf, as if all of nature and the earth itself were keeping vigil for the fallen warrior. " _As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk_ ," Joseph continued, " _the Law runneth forward and back. For the strength of the pack is the Wolf…_

" _And the strength of the Wolf is the Pack_."

* * *

Nick was awoken from his deep slumber by the sudden and obnoxious ringing of his cell phone from the nightstand on his right. Letting out a groan of annoyance, the fox tiredly rubbed at his eyes and glanced at the digital clock on the dresser before answering.

"Who the hell's calling at 12:30 in the morning?" he muttered to himself. He felt Judy stir softly beside him as he creakily sat up on the edge of the bed, lifting his phone from the nightstand. He looked at the screen and saw that the caller was none other than the Chief of Police.

"Oh, no," the fox muttered, suddenly awake. He clicked the green "accept" key and raised the phone to his ear. "Hello?" he answered tiredly.

"Wilde," came the gruff voice of Chief Bogo. "Sorry to bother you at this time of night. Were you asleep?"

"No, sir, Carrots and I were up on the roof doing the Cha-Cha slide while Gazelle played the bongos," Nick said sarcastically.

"Very funny, Wilde," Bogo said, his voice even more monotone than usual. "I need you and Hopps to come in."

"May I ask why, sir?" the fox asked, rubbing a paw across his tired eyes.

"Because," the buffalo replied. "your son is here."

"Wait, Joseph's there?" Nick asked, a surge of adrenaline waking him up in a heartbeat. "What is he doing at the station? Is he okay?"

"He's fine," the Chief assured him. "Well, more or less."

"What do you mean, 'more or less', Chief?" Nick asked impatiently. "That kid might not have my blood, but you better believe that he's my son. So _is my son okay or not?_ "

"He's fine, Wilde, don't worry. He's got some cuts and a bruised sternum, but he'll be fine. It's his mental state I'm more worried about right now. He...he needs you here."

"Chief, what the hell happened?" the fox said. Before Bogo could reply, he heard a soft, sleepy voice speak from behind him.

"Nick?" Judy yawned out to him. "What's going on? Who is it?"

"It's the Chief," Nick told her. "Something happened. Joseph's at the precinct."

"What?!" the rabbit asked, shaking the sleep from her head. "What happened?"

"Just get here, you two," the buffalo said grumpily, apparently having heard Nick and Judy's side conversation. "The kid is…well, he's shaken, to say the least."

"We'll be right there, Chief," Nick said, briskly hanging up the phone and standing up. "I'm gonna go pick Joseph up," he told Judy.

"Well, I'm coming, too," she insisted.

Knowing that there was no point in trying to stop her, Nick merely nodded and slipped his boxers on from where they lay on the floor. He then went over to their closet, putting on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt while Judy slipped on a pair of sweatpants and a ZPD t-shirt. Within two minutes, the couple was out the door and on their way to the station.

* * *

The first thing that Nick and Judy noticed when they walked through the front doors of Precinct One was how utterly and absolutely silent it was. Even on the few occasions that the pair had been here this late, there had been a handful of officers walking around the atrium, idly chatting while Clawhauser munched on his cereal or jammed out to Gazelle. Judy noticed Officers McHorn and Rhinowitz crossing the lobby, but they were completely silent. Even Clawhauser, who was seated at the front desk, was quiet, his eyes cast downward and his head in his paws.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Nick whispered to Judy out of the corner of his mouth as his eyes scanned the room for Joseph. They found him sitting on the long bench on the left side of the room, seated a few feet away from Chief Bogo, who had his hoof on the shoulder of hulking tiger in nightclothes that was sobbing gently into his paws.

"Is that Fangmeyer?" Judy asked Nick quietly as they passed, giving the two a wide berth.

"Yeah," Nick replied. "What the hell happened that could've made the big cat cry?"

"Something horrible," the bunny said as they approached the spot where his son was sitting. Nick could smell the coppery scent of dried blood on him, but he could tell it wasn't his. The kit had a thick woven blanket laid over his shoulders, his paws lying limp on his knees with his blank amber eyes facing forward, staring at nothing. He looked like he was completely in shock.

"Joseph?" Judy said softly as she laid a paw on his shoulder. At her touch, the fox slowly turned his head to face her, and she saw that his eyes were puffy and bloodshot. "Are you okay?"

Joseph only responded by slowly shaking his head, his eyes lowering to the floor.

"It's okay, bud," Nick said as he sat down next to the kit and wrapped a loving arm around his shoulders. "We're here now, it's okay." Joseph immediately leaned in to his surrogate father's embrace, resting his head softly against Nick's chest like a child. "You want to tell us what happened?"

The fox sniffled before he spoke. "I was walking home from Jamie's apartment after our date," he said, his voice hoarse. "I heard gunshots, so I went to go check it out."

"Why would you do that?" Judy interrupted. "You could've gotten hurt."

"What was I supposed to do, just let someone die?" he responded indignantly. "Not that it mattered, anyway. I…I got there too late."

"What do you mean, you got there too late, buddy?" Nick questioned him.

The kit drew in a shaky breath. "It was a murder," he explained. "There was a tiger woman lying on the ground, her throat cut. She…she was still alive when I got there, but not for very long. I…I think the gunshots I heard were from…Officer W-w-wolford."

"Wolford was there?" Nick asked, his stomach suddenly feeling as though it had dropped out of his body.

Joseph nodded tersely. "I think he was on patrol or something; I saw his cruiser. He—he tried to shoot the bison that slit the tiger's throat, but he only made one shot, I think. Then the bison threw the tiger away and…and went for Wolford."

"Joseph," Judy said cautiously, "where is Officer Wolford?"

At that, fresh tears began to fall from the kit's eyes once again as another sob escaped his chest. "I…I tried," he choked out, "but I…I wasn't fast enough. He—he killed him."

Both the officers hung their heads at the news, their hearts sinking like lead. They had both known Wolford fairly well—had sat with him at Verdant when they'd run into him on the night of Joseph and Jamie's first date. He was a good man, a good cop.

"I tackled the bison after he c-cut Wolford's throat," Joseph continued shakily. "I knocked him down, but he threw me through a window and ran off before I could get up. The tiger was already d-dead, but Wolford was…just lying on the ground, ch-choking—"

"It's okay, buddy," Nick said comfortingly as he squeezed the boy's shoulder. "You don't have to say anymore."

"Yes, I do," the fox insisted. "I—I tried to use my coat, the one you bought me, to stop the bleeding, but…the c-cut was too deep…I…I tried to save him, but I— _oh, God…_ "

Unable to say anything more, Joseph simply dissolved into tears and buried his face in Nick's shirt. The elder fox, knowing that there was nothing to be said, simply wrapped Joseph in a fatherly embrace as his shoulders shook like an earthquake. Judy, too, wrapped her arms around the kit from behind, pressing her face into his back as tears began to flow from her eyes as well.


	27. The Strength of the Pack

The weather on Tuesday morning was exactly what one would expect for a funeral—cloudy and overcast, barely fifty degrees, with a fine mist of chilly rain pervading every inch of the mid-morning air.

Although he knew that Officer Wolford had been well-loved and respected by many, Nick was still in awe at just how many mammals came to honor him. At least a thousand of Zootopia's citizens, not including the entirety of the ZPD, gathered in the damp, chilly grounds of Waldheim Jewish Cemetery to say farewell to Michael Wolford. There were easily over a hundred wolves alone present. Mayor Xander Lykos, the wolf elected to lead the city in the wake of the Night Howler Crisis, was present (as was traditional for the memorial of a fallen officer), but several other city officials made an appearance as well, including several aldermammals and even the District Attorney.

The service took nearly four hours, as it incorporated not only all the pomp and circumstance of a police funeral, but also the traditional rites of wolves and the Jewish faith. During the wake and visitation preceding the funeral itself, all officers of the ZPD (both Nick and Judy included), had put on their dress blues and shrouded their badges to observe the tradition of casket watch. Two officers, working in shifts, stood at either end of Wolford's casket, ensuring that their fallen brother would not be left alone until he was lowered into his final resting place. For the thirty minutes that she and Nick stood there, looking at each other over the canine's tallis-wrapped body, it was all that either of them could do to not break down into tears.

Upon arrival at the cemetery, Mayor Lykos spoke a few words on Officer Wolford's bravery and presented a Medal of Valor to his wife and young son. Chief Bogo, the mammal who was even better at hiding emotion than Nick was, the mammal whom Judy had always thought was the toughest and strongest cop ever to walk the earth, had to be led away from the podium halfway through the eulogy he was giving when he broke down into tears. Rabbi Aaron Wojtyla, the stoat who had taught Wolford his first Torah verses and celebrated his Bar Mitzvah, led the crowd in saying the 23rd Psalm before Officers Fangmeyer, McHorn, and Nick himself fired off the three-volley salute. Finally, amidst a chorus of bagpipes playing and sobbing mourners, Officer Michael Wolford was laid to rest next to his father, a Marine who had also given his life in the service of others.

Chief Bogo, once again in control of himself, tearfully presented the flag which had draped her husband's casket to Mrs. Wolford, and had shaken the tiny paw of her 8-year-old son. Once the crowds had begun to disperse, Nick and Judy led Joseph over to the pair so that they could offer their condolences, with Jamie following close behind.

"Lyanna," Nick said as he approached the she-wolf, "I'm so sorry."

"Thank you, Nick," she said, crouching down and enfolding both him and Judy in a hug. "It means so much that you two were here today. Michael always spoke very highly of you."

"He was our brother," Judy said. "Our family. And that means you are, too."

Mrs. Wolford could only respond by dabbing at her pale green eyes with a handkerchief as Nick gently led Joseph to her by the elbow. Jamie, dressed in a sleek black dress and black velvet coat, remained a few feet behind the trio. Though she hadn't known Officer Wolford in any real way, she new that she needed to be here to support Joseph and her sister.

"Lyanna, there's someone I'd like you to meet," Nick said, presenting the kit to her like a gift basket. "This is Joseph. He's…well, he's our family, too."

The she-wolf gently shook his paw. "It's very nice to meet you, Joseph," she said weakly.

The fox nodded tersely, his face an orange stone mask that just barely held back the flood of tears behind his eyes. "I…I'm so very sorry," he squeaked.

Nick cleared his throat. "Joseph was…he was there, with Michael. At the end."

Mrs. Wolford blinked confusedly. "You—you were there?" she asked.

The fox nodded. "I heard the gunshots and went to see what was wrong, but…I was too late. He—he couldn't talk, so I called for help on his radio, but…there was nothing else I could do. He tried to-" Joseph choked suddenly on the words, the memory of that night causing grief and bile to rise in his throat. "He tried to say the Shema," the reynard managed to say, tears once again falling from his amber eyes. "His f-final prayer, b-but he c-couldn't, so...I s-said it for him."

Joseph raised his eyes, bloodshot from tears and lack of sleep, to Lyanna's own, his heart burning with grief and shame. " _I'm so sorry,_ " he sobbed. "I'm sorry I couldn't save him, I'm sorry I couldn't-"

The kit was surprised as he was suddenly caught up in the astonishingly strong embrace of Lyanna Wolford. " _Thank you_ ," the she-wolf cried as she held him. "Thank you so much for being there for my Mikey."

"It was an honor, ma'am," the fox replied, doing his best to keep his voice steady. "I—I just wish there was more I could have done. If-if I had been just a little faster, gotten there a few seconds sooner-"

"Don't do that to yourself, sweetie," Mrs. Wolford said, laying a light brown paw upon his cheek. "Mikey knew the risks that came with this job, and he was happy to take them. None of it is your fault. I'm just—so glad that he wasn't alone…" As Mrs. Wolford once again dissolved into tears, a quiet voice spoke from beside her, at a height just below Joseph's chin.

"You were there?" Wolford's son asked him. "With my dad, when he…?"

"Yeah, I was," Joseph replied tearfully. "He was very brave. He—he's a hero." Joseph wiped his eyes so he could see the cub more clearly. "What's your name, buddy?" he asked him, reaching out his paw to shake that of the young wolf.

"Oh, goodness, I'm so sorry," Mrs. Wolford interjected. "I completely forgot to introduce you. This is our— _my_  little boy, Joey."

The fox felt his heart stop in his chest. "J-Joey?" he said shakily. "Y-you're name's Joey?"

The cub nodded, the gray-and-white fur of his face, exactly like his fathers, wet with tears. "Joseph Michael Wolford," he said.

"Mikey named him after Yosef ben-Yakov, from the Torah," Mrs. Wolford explained. "That was…one of his favorite stories growing up. The Coat of Many Colors."

Joseph had to pinch the bridge of his nose in order to keep himself from breaking down again. "Joseph," he said as tears fell from his eyes and Nick laid a fatherly paw on his shoulder. "That's…that's my name, too."

"Really?" little Joey said, a his green eyes brightening just the tiniest bit.

"Yeah," Joseph said, a small smile coming to his lips. "'God increases' is what it means, I think. Except I was named after Joseph of Nazareth, and you were named after Joseph of Egypt."

"Both were good men," Judy chimed in from above, remembering her years in Sunday School in Bunnyburrow. "Holy men. Heroes."

"Just like your father was," said the fox. "Just like you'll be one day, buddy."

"But I'm not big or strong like my dad," the cub said, casting his eyes to the ground. "How can I be a hero?"

"Oh, buddy," Joseph said, going down on one knee before the cub so that he could look up into his eyes, laying his paws gently on his shoulders, "you don't have to be big and strong to be a hero."

"I don't?" the cub asked, as though the idea was completely inconceivable.

"Not at all. Anyone can be a hero, even—" The fox suddenly choked up again as he remembered his own hero, the one whose russet paw was currently gripping his shoulder, just as he was gripping Joey's. "Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a young boy's shoulders to let him know the world hadn't ended. That he was going to be okay. That he was loved." Joseph felt Nick squeeze his shoulder at the words.

"It doesn't take strong muscles or great deeds to be a hero," Joseph continued. "You don't need a shield or a magic hammer or an iron suit. All it takes is little deeds done with great love. That's what made Nick and Judy solve the Night Howler case last year—love for justice, and love for each other." He grinned slightly as he heard Nick clear his throat. "And that's what made your dad do what he did. Love for you and your mom. Love for this city, and everybody in it."

Michael Wolford's son bit his lip as fresh tears rolled down his cheeks, then jumped into Joseph's arms, embracing him warmly.

"Thank you," the cub said. "For staying with my dad. For being a hero."

Joseph felt tears of his own begin to fall once more as he held little Joey tight. "You're welcome, buddy," he said. As the cub pulled away and wiped at his eyes, Joseph held him at arm's length and spoke to him again.

"I know what it feels like, buddy," Joseph told him. "I know that right now you probably feel like you're trapped in the darkness and won't ever see the sun again. I've been there. I...I know exactly how it feels to have the world burn down around you. But the night is always darkest just before the dawn, and I promise you, the dawn is coming. Beauty will come out of these ashes, and the sun will shine on you again, Joseph." As he looked into the cub's crystal-blue eyes, he could almost imagine that he was talking to himself. "You have a family that loves you—not just your relatives, but everyone at the ZPD."

"We're always here for you, little guy," Nick said.

"Both of you," Judy added, earning a tearful nod from Mrs. Wolford.

"They're your dad's family," Joseph continued, "and that means they're yours. Your 'ohana. Your pack" He gently laid a black-furred paw against the cub's ashy cheek. "Never take your family for granted, buddy. They're all you've got. When it feels like the whole world is coming down around you, you just remember this: ' _the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the Strength of the Wolf is the Pack._ "

"You know 'The Law of the Jungle'?" Mrs. Wolford asked from above him.

Joseph looked up, meeting her eyes. "Yeah," he said. "I learned it in English class in seventh grade. Why?"

"I just…it's kind of a tradition among wolves to learn that poem," she told him. "A lot of wolves say it when…when they're holding vigil for someone they love. Someone who's just passed away.

Joseph's eyes widened. "Really?" he said. "I…I didn't know that."

Mrs. Wolford simply nodded. "It would have been nice…to have someone there who could say it for him."

Joseph could only bow his russet head and bite his lip as he rose from the ground, doing his best not to break down again. " _I did_ ," he said quietly.

"You…you what?" Mrs. Wolford asked in shock.

"I said it for him," Joseph explained. "After…after he passed. I didn't even know about the tradition. It just…felt right."

The she-wolf shut her eyes for a moment, gripping her son's paw tightly in her own. " _Thank you,_ " she whispered, pulling Joseph once more into a hug. "Thank you. For everything. Thank you for being there...when Gabriel wasn't."

A slightly confused look crossed Joseph's face. "Gabriel?" he asked. "Who's Gabriel?"

"Mikey's brother," Lyanna replied, her voice suddenly hard. "The only family he really had left, after his mother passed a few years ago. They had a...a falling out, I guess you'd say. It happened last year, not long after the Night Howler Crisis."

"I didn't even know Michael had a brother," Nick interjected. "If you don't mind my asking...what exactly happened?"

Lyanna took a breath before she spoke. "Michael and Gabriel were always close, but they've also always had a bit of a...strained relationship, if I understand correctly. They loved each other, but they were constantly butting heads. It's almost like they're opposite sides of the same coin. Gabriel's brave and strong, just like Mikey-he was a marine for six years-but he always seems to have a thirst for vengeance, while Mikey has- _had_  a hunger for justice. After the Night Howler Crisis, they got into an argument at Gabe's apartment. Gabe kept saying that the Night Howlers were the straw that broke the camel's back in what he called the "great game" between predators and prey. He tried to convince Michael that predators needed to take action and lead a revolution against prey. 'We're in the great game, Mike,' he'd always say. 'And when you play this game, you win or you die-there is no middle ground.'" The she-wolf's voice was shaking slightly, whether from anger or grief, the other mammals couldn't tell.

"My God," Judy exclaimed. "What...what did Michael say?"

"He said exactly what you would have expected," Lyanna said, a proud smile grazing her lips even as silent tears leaked from her green eyes. "He told Gabriel that he'd had enough of his pred-supremacist propaganda and told him that if he said much more he'd have cause to arrest him. Gabriel...went into a rage and screamed that if Mikey wasn't with him, he was against him. Mikey just said 'I guess I'm against you then, Gabe.' He told him not to come by our house anymore because he didn't want him filling Joey's head with that nonsense." As she said her son's name, she hugged him closer to her side. "As far as I know, they haven't spoken since...and now they never will."

"I'm so sorry you had to go through all of this, Lyanna," Nick told her, tenderly placing a paw on her arm. "Just know that we're always here for you. We're your family. Your pack."

"Thank you, Nick," the she-wolf replied tearfully. "Thank you all so much, for everything. Especially you, Joseph." She once again knelt down on the damp grass and wrapped the fox in a hug, her son joining her a second later. "Thank you so much for staying with my Michael."

"It was an honor, Mrs. Wolford," Joseph choked out, trying to hold himself together. "I'm thankful I had the chance to know him, even if it was only for a few minutes. He...he was a good man."

"So are you," Lyanna said as she pulled away, placing an almost motherly kiss on Joseph's brow. Joey Wolford gave the fox one last hug around the neck, and, after a group embrace, the two lupines made their way through the cold mist to their car, the cemetery silent save for the quiet sobbing of the mourners.

* * *

A memorial banquet was to be held following Wolford's funeral at Maples, a favorite restaurant of Wolford's near the harbor, accompanied by a small fundraiser for the support of Lyanna and Joey. Lyanna was a stay-at-home mother, having relied on her husband's police work for support. Now, with Michael gone, it was up to her to find a job and support her young cub, and she would need all the help she could get. Nick and Judy, of course, would attend the banquet and fundraiser, but Joseph told them as he and Jamie slid into the back seat of Judy's car that he was just too worn out to go.

"I really want to, guys," the fox said, his voice crackly from all the sobbing he'd done lately, "but I just don't think I can. I just...I think I need a little quiet time."

"Of course, Joseph," Nick replied, his voice taking on a soft, fatherly tone as he pulled the car onto the cemetery's narrow driveway. "The apartment's on the way to Maple's anyway, so we'll just drop you off. Do you have your key?"

"Yeah, I've got it," the kit replied quietly. He jumped a little when he felt Jamie slide her paw into his own where it rested limply between them-the fox was still getting used to the sensation of physical affection.

"Hey," she said softly, her sky-blue eyes locking on his, "I'm right here if you need me, Joey. Promise me you'll call me if you feel like you wanna talk, okay?" The tender and affectionate smile she gave him, coupled with the warm pressure of her paw on his, was the only light Joseph could currently see in the darkness surrounding him.

"Actually," the fox replied in a whisper, knowing full well that Judy and Nick could hear him but at the same time hoping they wouldn't, "do you think you'd be able to...s-s-stay with me for a while? Just to...sit?" He lowered his eyes bashfully to to their entwined paws. "I just...I really don't wanna be alone right now," he finished, his nearly inaudible voice catching once more.

"Of course, Joey," the doe replied warmly, laying her free paw on Joseph's cheek. "You know I'll always stay with you if you need me to." Then, not even thinking about her sister and her boyfriend sitting in the front seat, Jamie leaned over and pressed her lips to Joseph's in a soft but passionate kiss.

The vulpine's brain immediately lit up like Christmas at the sensation of Jamie's lips on his, and both his heart and body were to exhausted to stir up the usual carnal fire in his chest. All he felt was a deep, agonizing longing to hold this precious bunny in his arms, to bury his snout in her neck and nuzzle her tenderly as he poured out his anguished heart to her.

It was only when Judy cleared her throat from the passenger seat of the car that the couple finally broke the kiss, both their cheeks burning. Joseph realized that this was the first time he and Jamie had actually kissed in front of them - while they knew that they were there, that is.

"Hey, uh, Nick?" Jamie asked, her voice just the tiniest bit shaky. "Do you think we could run by my place real quick first so I can change? This dress isn't exactly the most comfortable thing I've ever worn."

"Sure thing, Jamie," Nick replied, his emerald eyes staring blankly through the windshield.

Once they reached the Grand Pangolin Arms, Jamie ran up to her apartment and quickly exchanged her mourning dress for leggings and a light gray t-shirt. As she slid back into the backseat, quickly slipping her red jacket over her shoulders, Nick and Judy told the pair that they should be home from the banquet by six. A few minutes later, Nick had parked the car in front of their own apartment building. Before Joseph and Jamie walked into the complex's entryway, Nick quickly unbuckled himself, leapt out of the car, and ran up to his son, quickly wrapping him in a tight embrace.

"I love you, Joseph," the elder fox said softly as the younger tiredly wrapped his arms around him. "I'm always here for you, okay?"

"I know," Joseph replied. "I love you too, Nick." He felt his father give his shoulders a final squeeze before breaking the embrace and getting back in the car, his narrow shoulders slumped in sadness. As the silver sedan slowly drove away down the cold, misty road, the young reynard once again felt Jamie's paw slide into his, leading him into the building and up the stairs.

Once the pair had entered the apartment, Joseph made his way to his room without looking Jamie in the eyes. "I'm gonna go change real quick," he muttered to the floor. "There's, uh...there's water and soda in the fridge, if you want any." He vaguely gestured towards the kitchen door to indicate where the beverages were located.

"Thanks," Jamie said quietly in reply. She hung her jacket on the coat rack as Joseph proceeded to his bedroom, then sat down on the sofa, staring at the blank TV screen and running her paws tiredly across her face.

The fox returned a few minutes later, now wearing the ZPD sweatpants and t-shirt he'd received upon his arrival in Zootopia. He nestled himself into the corner of the couch next to Jamie, who immediately scooted over and snuggled up to his chest. Joseph unconsciously wrapped his bushy orange tail around her like a warm blanket, and she felt the familiar sensation of butterflies in her stomach as he gently wrapped her in his arms...along with a flare of heat in her chest.

For a while, they simply sat there together, with Jamie's head laying flat on Joseph's chest, his strong and steady heartbeat drumming against her ear. She could feel his toned muscle through his shirt and fur, and she felt heat flare up again within her, only this time it was much lower down than her heart.  _Dammit, bunny,_ she mentally chided herself.  _Your boyfriend is going through hell right now and that's all you can think about? Get your instincts under control!_ She tried to push the the images of herself and Joseph in a tangle of bedsheets from her head, but found her right paw unconsciously reaching out and resting itself directly over Joseph's heart. She prayed that he couldn't smell the change that passed through her at the sensation of his life beating beneath her fingers.

"So," she said quietly to him, finally breaking the silence, "do you wanna talk, or just sit, or...?" She left the end of the sentence hanging in the air, hoping that talking to Joseph would distract her mind from her sensual thoughts.

In response, the fox merely gave a slight shake of his head. "I don't know, Jamie," he said, his voice deadpan. "I just...I just hurt  _so_ much..."

"Then  _talk_ to me, Joey," the rabbit said, extricating herself from his arms and sitting back on her feet so that she could look him in the eye. "I'm your girlfriend. You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

"God, I wish that were true," Joseph replied, placing a tired paw on his face.

"It  _is_ true, Joseph," Jamie told him. She reached up and clasped his face in her paws, turning his eyes to hers. "If you're hurting, then tell me what hurts. If something's eating at you, tell me what it is. Whatever you're feeling, you don't have to be ashamed of it. I'm here for you, baby."

The fox gulped thickly when she said that. She had referred to him by a number of terms of endearment in the last two weeks, but that was the first time she had called him "baby". Joseph momentarily wondered if it had something to do with what he'd smelled on her a moment ago, but he quickly pushed that thought from his mind. He lowered his eyes from those of his girlfriend, pondering for a moment how to phrase his thoughts.

"Jamie, I'm scared," Joseph said at last, his voice cracking just a bit.

"Scared of what?" asked the bunny.

There was another moment of silence before the fox responded, his eyes clenching shut as though the words caused him pain. " _Me_ ," he finally whispered. "Sweetie, I'm scared of me."

"What?" replied Jamie. "Joseph, wh-why would you be afraid of yourself?"

"Because there is a darkness inside of me that you've never seen, Buttercup," Joseph said, using the nickname in spite of the seriousness of the conversation. "And I hope to God that you never do. It's a darkness that's always been with me, and I...I thought I was getting over it, but...this, Wolford's death, it just...just brought it back out. And Jamie, I am  _terrified_ that I'm going to do something that I shouldn't."

"Joey, what are you talking about? What are you afraid you're gonna do?"

The fox had to dig his claws into his paw pads and grit his teeth in order to maintain control of himself. Then, after a moment of silence so tense it could be cut with a butter knife, Joseph spoke in a voice so low and gravelly that Jamie could barely make out what he said.

" _I want to kill him,_ " Joseph growled, his eyes clamped shut and his voice seething with pure hatred and rage.

"Wh-what?" Jamie asked, not sure if she had even heard him correctly. "'Kill him'? Kill who, Joey?"

"The bastard that did it," he uttered, finally raising eyes but training them on the dim, distorted reflection in the TV screen instead of his girlfriend. "I want to kill that son-of-a-bitch bison that slit Wolford's throat, Jamie. I want to make him suffer, I want to make him  _scream_ and  _beg_ for death. I want to find him and-" The fox abruptly bit his tongue, stopping himself from going into a vivid description of what kind of tortures he would inflict upon Wolford's murderer. "Sweetie, if you knew the things going through my head right now, you'd run away screaming."

"No, I wouldn't," Jamie said immediately, placing both her paws around one of Joseph's. She could feel it shaking in barely contained anger and grief. "Joey, you're angry.  _Everybody's_ angry. Hell, _I'm_  angry, and I never even knew Officer Wolford's name until the morning after it happened. It's normal to want justice, sweetheart."

"This isn't justice, Jamie," he responded. "It's not even punishment. It's vengeance, hate-driven vengeance. It's  _evil_ , okay? I've-I have lain awake the last three nights  _fantasizing_ about the horrific things I would do to that bison if I caught him. I am so filled with hatred and vengeance and pain and anger and I just-" Joseph suddenly lifted his paws, still clenched tightly into fists, above his head, then slammed them into his knees with enough force to shatter a door. The action was accompanied by an almost feral growl of frustration, then a gasping sob. "I just don't want you near any of that, Jamie," he said, his face twisting as he tried to hold back his angry tears. "I am trying  _so hard_ to be the man that you deserve, baby. I am trying with  _every ounce of strength_ that I have to be strong for you, but it is so, so h-"

His words were abruptly cut off, as his lips were suddenly rendered immobile by Jamie's own, who had pressed their mouths together in a feverish kiss. Just as it had in the car, Joseph's mind immediately went blank as he involuntarily wrapped his sweet little caramel bunny in his arms, pressing her closer to himself as she fiercely but tenderly kissed him. The massive amount of neurons firing in his brain as a result of Jamie's lips on his momentarily overshadowed all the hurt, anger, hatred, and sorrow he had felt a moment ago, and - for a few moments at least - the only the thing in the universe that was real was Jamie Hopps.

Though it felt like an eternity, the kiss only lasted a few seconds. When Jamie finally pulled away from a somewhat breathless Joseph, she had to quickly banish the racy images she had thought up of him from her mind before she spoke. "Joey," she said softly to him, leaning her forehead against his, "sweetie, baby, you do  _not_ have to be strong for me, okay? You saw me at my weakest, at my most vulnerable, when I was nothing but a weeping mess of fluff, and I begged you to stay, and  _what_ did you say to me? What did you say to me, Joey?"

The fox swallowed once more before he spoke, the memory causing him to choke up even more. " _Always_ ," he said to her. "I promised you that I would always stay with you."

"Exactly," Jamie said, raising her right paw to gently stroke his bright orange cheek. "Do you really think that I wouldn't do the same? Joey, I will  _always_  stay with you." The bunny swiftly reached up to give him a quick but lingering peck on the lips. "I'm with you 'til the end of the line, baby. You don't have to be strong for me."

When Joseph's amber eyes met Jamie's blue ones, everything inside him - pain, anger, hatred, remorse, sorrow, grief, regret - shattered into a million billion tiny little shards as the papier-mâché mask he had so desperately tried to put on to hide his feelings fell to pieces on the ground. The fox let out a sound that was somewhere between an agonized scream and a mournful howl, then immediately burst into tears, ragged sobs tearing themselves from the depths of his being as he fell forward into his bunny's waiting arms. He tried to speak to her, but all that came out were incoherent blubbering sounds, ripped to shreds by the sharp gasps of air he was sucking in between sobs.

Jamie wrapped her arms tenderly around her boyfriend's shoulders as he rested his head flat in her lap, her heart breaking for her fox with every cry that issued forth from his muzzle. It was taking every ounce of strength that she herself had to not break down as well, wishing and praying that there was something she could do for him. Then, remembering the first time Joseph had held her in those strong, safe, gentle arms of his, she began to softly pet the top of his head, hoping that the action would bring him comfort.

After a few minutes, Joseph's cries had died down just a bit, but he was still sobbing so hard that he was shaking the sofa. And so, doing her best to keep her voice steady, Jamie began to softly croon to her fox the same words that he had sung to her, what seemed like so long ago.

_Amazing grace, how sweet the sound_

_That saved a wretch like me_

_I once was lost, but now I am found_

_Was blind, but now I see_

The moment that Jamie's sweet, angelic voice reached his ears, Joseph felt himself begin to calm down. The words of the song brought peace to his tormented soul, driving away hatred and fear and wrath, and the voice of his angel filled the spaces they had left with love, joy, and hope.

As his sobs slowly subsided into sniffles, Joseph knew for an absolute certainty that he loved Jamie Hopps with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his strength. She wasn't just his girlfriend - she was his lamp in the darkness, the watcher on the walls of his heart. Jamie was the fire that burned against the cold winds of despair, the light that broke the dawn of new hope, the horn that awoke him from the slumber of grief. She was the shield that guarded his soul.

"Jamie?" the fox said quietly, when at last his sobs had ceased and the bunny had sung through the hymn twice.

"Yes, Joey?" Jamie replied, softly stroking her boyfriend's black-tipped ears as his chin rested gently on her knees.

Joseph raised his eyes to hers, looking straight up as though he was gazing into heaven. " _You_ are my amazing grace."

The bunny couldn't stop the tears that seeped from her eyes as she leaned down to plant a tender kiss on the bridge of Joseph's nose. "I will  _always_ be here for you, Joey. No matter what happens, no matter what road life takes us on, I promise you that I will always stay by your side."

"Always?" the fox asked her in wonder.

Jamie rested her paw against her fox's neck, just where she felt his heart beat - a heart that she knew to be one of the purest and kindest the world had ever known - and carefully leaned down to press her nose against his. "Always," she whispered to him. "To infinity and beyond."


	28. A Vengeful Initiative

A torrent of white-hot hellfire scalded the mammal's throat as he sucked down the last dregs of the clear liquid from the bottle clasped tightly in his paw. He felt tears practically squirt from his eyes as the bottle left his lips, and he had to use all of his strength to force the burning vodka down his throat and keep from projectile vomiting it back out onto the carpet. He buckled over as he gasped and coughed at the bitter taste of the booze, barely able to make out the fur of his feet through the water in his eyes.

Once he was confident that he wasn't going to vomit or pass out, the grieving canid threw himself back onto the couch with a groan, his burning eyes flitting around the dark apartment. Although the vodka made his chest feel like he'd swallowed a gallon of molten steel, the heat of it was icy cold compared to the fire of hatred and rage that burned in his heart. He lifted the empty bottle in front of his face, reading the words printed on the label out loud.

"'Gdanski Spirytus'," the mammal read in a raspy voice, barely able to speak due to the combination of heavy drinking and agonized screaming he'd been doing the last few days. "192 proof. Pfft." His eyes rested on the label for a few moments, his right paw idly turning the bottle over as he pondered the drink's effectiveness. 192 proof was roughly equal to 96% alcohol, and he had downed the entire bottle over the course of the last hour, doing his best to numb the pain inside of him. Given the fact that store-bought rubbing alcohol was only 91%, by all rights he should have been dead by now. And yet, he didn't have so much as the slightest buzz - just fire in his belly and hate burning in his heart.

"Fucking eggheads!" the mammal roared suddenly, hurling the empty liquor bottle at the wood-paneled wall. It shattered against the wood with a loud  _crash_ , a million shards of broken glass flying across the tiny living area. "Those goddamn fuckers couldn't even let me get  _drunk?!_ " He leapt to his feet, hoping to punch something, but was only able to howl in pain as the pads of his feet were pierced by the shards of the shattered bottle.

 _"COCK-SUCKING MOTHER-FUCKING TWAT!"_ he shrieked in fury as he hopped away from the mess into the kitchen, leaving bloody paw prints on the linoleum as he went. Consumed with rage, he grabbed one of the rickety kitchen chairs and threw it into the living area, where it shattered against the twenty-year old television set facing the couch. The fragile glass of the screen immediately buckled and broke into a thousand pieces.

" _FUUUUUUCCCCKKK!"_  the canid screamed at the sight of the shattered device, his vision beginning to turn red with fury. The muscles of his right arm rippled with preternatural strength as he brought his fist down on the granite countertop in the kitchen, which shattered like glass beneath the weight of his anger. His arm crashed through the stone and ripped through the wooden drawer underneath, carrying a horde of twisted silverware with it as it shredded the front of the cabinet.

"Now that  _is_ impressive," said a silky voice from the shadows near the apartment's front door. "He told me you were good, but... _damn,_  I think I'm getting a little hot under the collar, here."

The furious mammal immediately wheeled towards the voice, his claws extending as a vicious snarl tore itself from his muzzle. His superior night vision immediately searched the dim space for the source of the sound, and soon his eyes locked themselves on what seemed to be a creature composed of pure shadow, nestled snugly into the dark space between the wall and the front door. "Who the fuck are you?" the enraged canid asked, somewhat shocked by the fact that someone had managed to sneak up on him.

The shape moved forward, strutting into the dim light that managed to make its way through the thick, moth-eaten curtains covering the windows. He quickly observed that the speaker was a female silver fox, probably late twenties to early thirties, with black fur on her face and paws that was peppered with shining silver.

His right paw throbbing from the impact with the granite countertop, the mammal drew his bloodshot eyes over the vixen's body in a heartbeat, taking in the fur-tight tactical bodysuit that hugged every curve of her body. A gun belt rested on her wide hips, which swung back and forth as the vixen slowly and purposefully strutted towards him, her silvery-black tail swishing flirtatiously behind her. As her bright red eyes locked on his crystal-blue ones, the canid couldn't help but feel a spark of desire flare up in his chest when he saw the way the kevlar-like material of her suit hugged her chest. He'd always had a bit of a thing for vixens - a fact that had caused him no small amount of headache in the past.

"Oh, I've gone by a lot of names, darling," the fox purred seductively, her midnight paw casually slipping a pistol from the belt at her waist, setting the canid on guard once more as he was he was broken from his lustful reverie. She twirled the weapon in her fingers as if it were a toy. "Scarlett, Natalie, Mirage, Venus...but for right now, you can call me Widow." A pink tongue flitted out from between her teeth, tracing itself across her lips as her glowing scarlet eyes locked on his.

"Doesn't really answer my question," the mammal replied tersely, his lips pulling back slightly from his teeth. "You've got five seconds from the end of this sentence to tell me who you are and what the fuck you're doing in my home, then I'm gonna gut you like a goddamn trout.  _Talk._ "

"Aww, now don't be like that, wolfy," the vixen said to him, her tone implying that she was speaking to an angsty teen. She plopped herself down in a moldy old recliner near the window, idly inspecting the gun, which was a model the wolf in question had never seen before. "Wouldn't want to get that pretty fur of yours dirty, now would we?"

Another snarl, louder this time, tore itself from the canine's white-and-gray muzzle as he took a heated step towards her. "Bitch, you've got  _two seconds-_ "

The canine's words suddenly stopped dead in his throat, his feet freezing on the floor as the midnight vixen before him began to sing.

" _Early one morning, just as the sun was rising,_ " Widow crooned in the voice of a viper, " _I heard a maid sing in the valley below: 'Oh, don't deceive me! Oh, never leave me! How could you use a poor maiden so?'_ " She cocked the gun in her onyx paws as she finished the song, the barrel of the strange weapon emitting an almost unearthly humming sound as the grip began to emit a soft blue light. "There. Now, isn't that better, baby?" the vixen asked him coyly.

The wolf, his clenched fists shaking with rage, was unable to respond. His feet felt as though they were encased in cement and, try as he might, he couldn't bring himself to put one in front of the other. His jaw ached with the effort he was expending trying to snarl at the mammal in his chair, but it was no use. The song, seared into his brain by his mother and his superiors alike, had rendered him completely immobile.

"Aww, what's wrong, wolfy?" Widow inquired of him, a snicker escaping her lips as she saw blood beginning to drip from the canine's paws as his claws dug into his paw pads. "Fox got your tongue?"

He could make no response, but only stared at the vixen in fury as he imagined how he would torture her once he was out of her control.

The vixen slapped a paw to her forehead in a comical expression of forgetfulness. "Duh!" Widow said in a mockingly stupid voice. "I forgot you had to wait for a command before you could do, like, literally anything! Go on, Sarge, you can talk now - but  _no moving_."

The wolf sucked in a gasp of fresh air as his broken mind allowed his mouth to move again. "How the  _hell_ did you know about the trigger?" he groaned out, still unable to move any other part of his body due to his psychological conditioning.

"Alpha told me," Widow answered simply. "Not sure exactly how he knows about it, but I'm not surprised he does. He's one of the smartest mammals alive." The vixen pursed her lips, her blood-red eyes becoming distant for a moment. "It's kinda hot, actually, not gonna lie. But still, I prefer notches on a headboard to notes in a textbook any day of the week." She licked her lips seductively at him, flicking her eyebrows up suggestively.

"Who the fuck is 'Alpha'?" the wolf asked of her, ignoring her innuendo.

"He's my boss, the one that sent me here. Looking for you."

"And what does your boss want with me,  _Widow?_ "

The vixen leapt up from her seat, striding over to where the white wolf stood and giving him a little shove against his chest. " _Now_ we're getting somewhere!" she exclaimed. "You're finally starting to get the hang of this, Sergeant Wo-"

" _THAT'S NOT MY NAME!"_ the canine suddenly roared in fury. "Do  _not_ call me by that name, or I swear to God I'll-"

"Do what?" Widow asked sardonically, reaching up on tiptoe to nip her teeth playfully at his chin. "Lick me to death? You're not really in a position to be making threats, Ga-"

"MY NAME IS STARK!" shouted the wolf, his fury burning hotter than ever. "My name is Jonathan Stark! I left that other name behind a long time ago."

The black vixen threw up her paws in a gesture of submission. "Whatever you say,  _Mr. Stark_ ," she said. "Now, on to why I'm here. My employer,the guy who calls himself Alpha, is a  _very_ ambitious mammal with some  _very_ big plans for Zootopia...along with the rest of the world." She began to walk in a slow, steady circle around the wolf that called himself Stark, her left paw softly caressing the rock-hard muscles of his abdomen through his grimy t-shirt and gray-and-white fur, her right paw pointing the strange pistol at his face. His crystal-blue eyes locked on her blood-red ones as she continued.

"Now, the Alpha's success in this crusade of his - which, I assure you, it is in your best interest to join - is guaranteed, I can tell you that. This nifty little gadget here"-she shook the pistol in his face as her middle finger traced the curve of the wolf's spine, causing his hackles to rise- "is a prototype weapon based on some  _seriously_ powerful shit. I'm talking 'emperor-of-the-fucking-universe' powerful. And he's building up an army that's more than ready to use a stockpile of these babies once we get them into production."

"Use them for what?" Stark asked her, beginning to get curious in spite of his rage.

"All good things in time, sweetheart," Widow told him slyly. He felt her paw tightly grasp the base of his tail, causing him to let out a tiny yelp, and she proceeded to run her fingers through the appendage's thick, coarse fur. While far from diminishing his anger or apprehension, the vixen's touch nevertheless caused the wolf's heart to speed up even further, and he could feel his camo pants tightening at the feeling of her claws in his fur.  _Fucking vixens,_ he thought to himself.  _And I thought that Skye chick was bad…_

Widow continued as though nothing had happened. "So, although my employer's victory is certain, we seem to have hit a little, ah... _snag_ in our plans, so to speak. And  _that,_ my dear wolfy boy, is where you come in."

"The fuck do you mean, 'where I come in'?" the wolf inquired. "You trying to recruit me or something?"

"Sexy  _and_ smart!" exclaimed the fox sarcastically. She allowed her long, bushy tail to tickle the wolf's toes as she moved to stand in front of him once more. "You and I might just have to have a little rough-and-tumble session once we get back to HQ, if you know what I mean."

"I know what you mean, I just don't give a shit," Stark replied. His bluff was immediately called when Widow none-too-gently grabbed at the growing bulge in his pants.

"Little Johnny Junior seems to think you're lying," she purred, reaching up to allow her teeth to graze the tender flesh of his throat, just where his pulse beat.

"When this conditioning wears off," Stark growled as Widow continued groping him, "and it  _will_ wear off...I'm going to eat you alive."

"Don't threaten me with a good time," the vixen said with a smirk before backing away from the wolf. "But, back to business. Like I said, we've hit a snag in our operations, and Alpha thinks that you might be the answer to our prayers. The last guy he sent in got his neck snapped - but, what can you expect from a  _rabbit_?" She spat the last word out as if it was poison.

"The fact that you're explaining all of this instead of just ordering me to do what you want tells me that you think you can convince me to join you on my own," Stark said. "Just what the fuck makes you think I want any part of this? And what the hell are your ' _operations'_  anyway?"

A sadistic grin split Widow's midnight face. "Ooh, I'm glad you asked," she answered. "I can't tell you everything just yet - loose ends and all that - but what I  _can_  tell you is that the Alpha's plans involve killing lots and  _lots_  of prey."

Faster than lightning, the wolf's mood went from enraged to enthralled. "Killing prey?" he asked, somewhat disbelieving.

"Well, more like  _hunting_ ," the vixen replied. "The Alpha wants to keep things interesting - which, from what I've heard, is something you want as well."

" _Intensely,_ " said the white wolf, the fiery vengeance of a thousand years of suppression flooding his frozen limbs. "One prey in particular, but, the more the merrier."

"Then I think you'll be quite interested in my proposal," Widow intoned with a grin. "You see, wolfy, we want to kill a shitload of prey - but, like I said, we've hit a snag. A fox-shaped snag, to be specific. When Alpha first heard about this guy - a kid, really, if you can believe it - he was sure he'd just found the ultimate soldier for our little Order. Word is, this fox ripped a marmot to shreds  _in seconds_ \- with nothing but his teeth." Widow slipped the pistol she was holding back into its holster, pulling her phone from her pocket in its place. She flipped through her photos until she found the one her inside-mammal had taken at the scene of the attack. " _This_  was the result," she said with relish, holding the phone up to Stark's face so that he could see the gore on the screen.

The wolf's crystal-blue eyes immediately widened in awe. "A  _fox_ did that?" he asked in disbelief.

Widow nodded. " _In seconds_ ," she repeated, slipping the device back into her pocket. "We're pretty sure he's enhanced. Kind of like you, but with a little bit more... _savage_  flair, I guess you'd say. Anyway, at first, my boss thought this kit would love to join us in slaughtering some of those stuck-up prey sons-of-bitches - cultural vengeance, restore balance, evil speech, et cetera, ad nauseam -  _buuuuuut_  intelligence told us pretty quick that that wasn't the case. Evidently, he only killed the marmot because it was about to kill a couple of pred kids, and then we found out that he's actually living with those two flatfoots, Hopps and Wilde. We're also pretty sure he's screwing Hopps' sister."

The white wolf released a sound of disgust from the back of his throat at that. "Great," he said sarcastically. "Another bunny-fucking fox. As if Wilde wasn't enough."

"Sickening, isn't it?" Widow said sincerely. "Seems to run in the family. Evidently, this kit is the cop's bastard son or something. Anyway, once we found out he was a big, cuddly ol' bunny-buddy, we realized pretty quick that he was going to be fighting for the losing side. Knowing how much of a threat this fox could pose, Alpha decided to take him out. I  _told_ him he should have let me handle it, but he kept saying I was too valuable. So, he hired a mercenary - Ivan  _goddamn_ Karatov, of all mammals - to take the kit out. I'll admit, the guy's pretty good for a rabbit - or, he was - but apparently young Mr. Wilde has had some  _very_  specialized training, because he snapped Karatov's neck without ever getting a scratch on him."

Stark gave a sardonic huff. "Never send prey to do a predator's job," he stated.

The vixen's eyebrows shot up at that. "Does that mean you want the job?" she asked.

"I'm considering it," the wolf replied honestly. "I'd consider it more if you let me out of this rather uncomfortable position."

"Alright," the vixen said, pulling her gun out again just in case. "So long as you promise not to attack me - unless, of course, that involves bending me over and mounting me like the big, bad wolf you are." She said the last part with a devilish grin as she sat back in the recliner once more, spreading her legs and placing her heels on the seat as she rested the butt of the gun on her groin, pointing it at the wolf's chest.

Stark allowed himself a smirk in return. In spite of her using his trigger, he was actually beginning to like this vixen - they always seemed to have such  _spunk_. "I might just have to take you up on that, Widow," he said with a playful growl. "But, first things first. Let me go."

Widow gave him a devious, black-furred smile. " _La plume de ma tante,_ " she said in flawless French.

The wolf's muscles immediately went limp as the release words freed his mind from his conditioning. He took a deep breath, stretching his arms above his head and swishing his tail around behind him. He felt fresh blood flow from the wounds in his paw pads as he brought his paws back to his sides, but he knew that they would heal within the hour. "Look what you made me do," he said, showing his paw to the vixen before vigorously shaking both appendages in an effort to restore blood flow to his numbed fingers. The fox's only response was to give an apologetic shrug.

The wolf padded over to the couch and plopped himself down in the same spot where he'd been earlier, hiking his right foot up onto his knee so that he could begin picking out the shards of the shattered vodka bottle. It would be most unpleasant to have the flesh heal around them. "So," he said, grimacing slightly as he pulled the bits of glass from his feet, "I take it you want me to off this fox since obviously Carrot-Cock couldn't do it."

"Bingo," replied Widow. "My employer's very resourceful, so it didn't take much to find out about you and your work with SCYLLA and the Directorate. He found records on everything after SCYLLA fell - the serum, your training, your unique skill sets...and your conditioning."

"Obviously," said the wolf, beginning to pick glass from his left foot now. "So, say I do this. What am I getting paid? I don't work for free any more - that is, of course, assuming you're not going to just order me to do it."

"Oh, don't you worry about that, sweetheart," the silver fox said from behind him. "Alpha's real big on his pro-predator philosophy. If someone's gonna join our crusade, he wants them to do it of their own free will -no coercion, no brainwashing, no nothing. Except money, obviously. And, trust me, he's got a  _lot_  of it. There's also much better accommodations back at HQ, along with the pleasure of slaughtering some meek, defenseless prey. And, if that isn't enough, I  _have_ been authorized to give you a little bonus in advance."

The wolf's enhanced hearing caught the sound of a zipper unzipping, then the rustle of fabric sliding past fur. A devilish grin came to his lips, but he kept his eyes forward as he dug the last bit of glass out of his injured paw pad. "I do like the sound of all that," he told Widow. "But I'd like some up-front payment all the same, and there's a very pressing matter that I need to take care of first. Like I said, there's one prey in particular that I want to kill. Your boss gives me what I need to get that done...then I'm all yours, baby." He could actually smell the spike in Widow's scent at the last word.

"I'm sure I can arrange that," the vixen said huskily from behind him. "So, about that bonus...I've actually got it right here, and, if you accept the proposal, I can guarantee that there'll be a lot more to come."

"And what exactly might this bonus be, Widow?" Stark inquired, certain he already knew the answer based on the smell that was wafting over from where the vixen stood.

The white wolf was proven right when Widow came around the couch and stood before him, now free of her fur-tight tactical suit - and everything else. " _This,_ " she purred to him, gliding her paws over the jet-black fur of her chest and belly. "So, wolfy...do we have a deal?"

Given that the wolf had already pulled off his filthy t-shirt and was currently undoing his belt buckle, a verbal reply was unnecessary, but he gave one anyway. "I believe we do, Miss Widow," he growled hungrily, slipping off his pants and boxers as the fox crawled on top of him, ferociously slamming her lips to his.

"Call me Vixey, baby," she moaned into his mouth as she took him, a guttural moan seeping from her lips.

 _Well_ , the white wolf thought to himself,  _this day is going much better than I had planned…_

* * *

Chief Bogo was seated at the desk in his silent office, hunched over a picture that made his eyes ache with the burden of unshed tears. The photo was about ten years old, and depicted him and Michael Wolford at the wolf's wedding, at which Bogo had been Wolford's best man. They were both dressed in their dress blues, and Wolford wore a kippah on his head and a traditional Jewish prayer shawl around his shoulders - the same one he had been buried in barely a week ago. The heart of the massive cape buffalo ached with grief as he remembered the happy occasion, the memories of wedding songs and laughter mingling with those of bagpipes and tears. The chief sighed heavily and passed a hoof over his face, beginning to wonder if he might need counseling to deal with this loss.

Before he could ruminate further on the state of his mental health, Bogos thoughts were interrupted by the buzz of the phone on his desk, indicating a call from Clawhauser. " _Chief Bogo?_ " came the voice of the cheetah from the speaker, sounding simultaneously frantic and excited, "S _ir, are you there?_ "

The buffalo heaved another sigh, his eyes rolling as he pressed the button on the device that allowed him to speak back to Clawhauser. "Yes, Clawhauser, of course I'm here," he drawled tiredly. "What is it now?"

" _Nygma just called from the crime lab, sir!"_ the feline nearly squealed from the speaker. " _He says we've got a hit!"_

"A hit on  _what?_ " Bogo asked, his tired mind working slower than usual.

" _The blood from the crime scene!_ " Clawhauser responded. " _When Wolford shot the bison, the one that...the one that did it, he left a blood trail, and we've got a match! We - Chief? Chief Bogo, are you there?"_

The buffalo was not, in fact, there, because, the moment that Clawhauser had said the word "bison", the Chief of Police had torn himself out of his chair, ripped open the door of his office, and actually jumped over the banister of the stairwell, dropping down two stories and landing on the tile of the atrium with such force that it cracked beneath his hooves. Despite the ache in his knees and hooves, his immense strength prevented him from receiving any serious injury, and he dashed past a couple of startled zebras towards the reception desk where Clawhauser was sitting, his mouth agape at the sight of Bogo pulling off what amounted to a superhero-landing.

 _"WHO?!"_  the buffalo roared at him, his forehooves digging into the wood of the desk as his eyes bulged out in anticipation. " _WHERE?! WHERE IS THE BASTARD THAT KILLED MICHAEL WOLFORD?!"_

"H-h-his name's Greg Tyson!" the cheetah squeaked out, more than a little frightened by Chief Bogo's unblinking, vengeful eyes. "He - he's part of a small-time game of prey supremacists, the ones that tried to kill the kids in the alley last month!"

"WHERE?!" Bogo roared.

"Sahara Square!" Clawhauser cried, wanting nothing more than for the Chief to blink - and preferably back away from him. "Avenue X, at Cicero Apartments! Unit J4!"

"Get a SWAT team together," the buffalo growled. "And make sure Fangmeyer's on it. We're gonna take this son of a bitch in, dead or alive."

"Sir, yes sir!" the feline said offering up a hurried salute before grabbing the phone receiver and calling up the SWAT team. The Chief of Police spun away from the desk and headed down the stairs to change into his riot gear.

Twenty-eight minutes later, Chief Bogo, decked out with a riot mask, steel-plate armor, and an automatic rifle, stomped up the stairs of the rundown Cicero apartment complex, fire burning in his veins. Close on his heels was the SWAT team, comprised of Officers Fangmeyer, Delgato, Grizzoli, and McHorn, all carrying the same gear, while Officer Higgins cleared out the few other occupants of the building in case of danger. When the group reached the door of unit J4, Bogo motioned for the mammals to assume the breaching formation, with Fangmeyer standing on the opposite side of the door from the buffalo. The feline quickly rapped on the door four times, calling out to the bison within.

"Gregory Tyson!" Fangmeyer shouted, doing his best to keep his voice steady. "This is the ZPD! You're under arrest for the murders of Michael Wolford, Ashley Tigris, and Myrcella Lannister! Come out now with your paws up!" After several seconds of silence, the tiger flitted his eyes over to the Chief, who nodded in reply. The buffalo proceeded to stand in front of the door with his rifle pointed straight at the center, then aimed a ferocious kick at the worn-out wood. The door immediately burst off of its hinges, the wood buckling inward with a deafening  _crack._

Without hesitation, Bogo shouldered his way into the apartment, sweeping his eyes and the barrel of his gun across the space quickly, scanning for threats. Finding none, he motioned for Fangmeyer to check the kitchen and Delgato to check the bathroom. The rest of the team followed the buffalo down the tiny hall to the bedroom on the right, providing cover. When the Chief of Police rounded the doorframe into the bedroom of the mammal who had murdered his friend, it was all he could do not to vomit into his riot mask as he beheld the scene that awaited him within.

"Bathroom's clear, Chief," the lion Delgato said from behind him. "It looks like he might have fle -  _JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!_ " The feline, who had seen more than his fair share of violence in his eight years on the force, lurched back against the opposite when he saw blood-splattered walls of the bedroom, the dripping red bedsheets, and the mangled form that was suspended from the ceiling. "Wha -  _what in the goddamn hell is that?!_ "

"Greg Tyson," Bogo groaned quietly, noting the large horns that appeared to have been torn from the bison's skull and jammed point-first into its shoulders. He heard Grizzoli cough from beside him before the bear raced to bathroom, the sounds of his retching barely registering through the ringing in the buffalo's ears. "Or...what's left of him."

"My...God..." Fangmeyer said as he approached the group, finally resting his eyes on the carnage in the bedroom. "Chief, who... _what_ could have done that?"

"Solomon," offered Officer McHorn, his breathing heavy as he tried to ignore the smell of rotting flesh coming from the bed. "Only a real monster could do that to mammal that size."

"His name's Wilde, now," Chief Bogo said numbly as he slowly advanced into the bedroom. He felt a sticky wetness on his hoof, and looked down to see that he had stepped in a puddle of coagulated blood that had flowed out from the massacred carcass. His mind was such a haze of horror that it barely registered. "And this wasn't him. The kid's got his issues, but he's not sadistic. Whoever did this...this was someone who enjoyed it."

"How could anyone enjoy doing  _that?"_ Fangmeyer questioned. He had to admit, he'd thought about killing the bison who had murdered his partner more times than he could count in the last week, but  _this_...no mammal deserved this.

"Some mammals are just broken, Tony," Bogo responded to him, his voice deadpan as his blank eyes took in the full horror of the scene before him. "Some mammals just want to watch the world burn."

Gregory Tyson - assuming, of course, that this was, in fact, him - was absolutely and unequivocally dead; of that there could be no doubt. His mangled corpse was suspended above the bed, feet pointing towards the headboard, its limbs stretched to grotesque proportions by the chains that bound it to the four corners of the ceiling. The arms and legs had clearly been dislocated, and it seemed that whatever mammal had killed the bison had taken their time in carefully peeling the fur and skin from the majority of his body. The bloodied rags that had once been Tyson's flesh lay in a heap at the foot of the bed, and a ragged stump of a neck and a few broken vertebrae were all that was left in the place where the mammal's head had once been. Every ounce of flesh and muscle had been removed from the bison's abdomen, allowing the officers to peer into his eviscerated chest cavity, empty save for the rib bones that seemed to have been torn out and then jammed back in so that they pointed out and upwards like the legs of an overturned spider. All of Tyson's internal organs lay in a pile int the middle of the blood-soaked mattress, and a horde of flies had already begun to crawl over the rotting remains.

On the pillows at the top of the bed rested Gregory Tyson's severed head, minus the horns. His eyes had been gouged clear from their sockets, replaced by the two halves of the bison's tongue, which seemed to have been torn straight from his jaw. Bogo could only think that whoever had killed Tyson must have grabbed hold of the bison's jaw and pulled until his cheeks split open, then torn the mandible clean from his skull, as the mammal's lower jaw now rested on the blood-soaked fur between the stumps of his horns like some sort of macabre hat. Just above the headboard, scrawled in blood on the starkly-lit wall, was what seemed to be a message from the killer.

" _Sic semper tyrannis_ ," Fangmeyer read grimly. "What is that, Latin?"

"Yes," Bogo answered him, his eyes locking on the bloody letters. "'Thus always to tyrants.'"

"'Thus always to tyrants'?" McHorn repeated. "The hell does that mean? This guy was a murderer, not a dictator."

"I don't know," said the Chief of Police as an icy-cold fist gripped his heart like a vice. "But I have a bad feeling that whoever did this...might just be getting started."


	29. Fire and Blood

Joseph was thankful that the sky was free of clouds today, allowing the late afternoon sun to warm him with its rays as he and his family stepped out of Zootopia's Natural History Museum and into the chilly air. He rubbed his paws together as a cool breeze ruffled his fur, a tiny shiver going through him. It hadn't been this cold when they went in, had it?

"So, Joseph, what did you think?" Judy asked from in front of him, her right paw clasped firmly in Nick's left. "Did you like our little family museum tour?"

"Yeah, it was great," Joseph replied with a smile as the trio began to walk down the bustling street. "Really cool to learn about a different kind of history. I have to say, though, I'm surprised they still have that one exhibit open after everything that happened between you guys and Bellwether."

"Hey, at least we got our names engraved on that plaque next to the deer pit," Nick stated wryly.

"It's not a 'deer pit', you dumb fox," Judy said, giving her partner a playful shove with her shoulder. The bunny let go of her fox's paw, hopping ahead of him and beginning to walk backwards so that she could face him. She was about to expound on what the proper name for the exhibit was when her eyes caught on the newly opened hot cocoa stand off to their left. "You boys want some hot cocoa?" she asked giddily, clearly excited by the prospect of the warm beverage. "Get that November chill out of your bones?"

"I'd love some," Joseph answered. Nick answered in the affirmative as well, and Judy left the two vulpines leaning up against the brick facade of a small tax service building a few feet away from the stand. She walked back over to them a few minutes later, a cardboard tray with three steaming cups of hot chocolate clutched in one paw, and a nearly half-eaten cranberry muffin in the other.

"Carrots!" Nick said indignantly when he saw the treat his bunny was happily munching on, "Where's my muffin?"

"Well, you didn't ask f-" Judy began to reply snarkily. Before she could finish her remark, however, the doe suddenly stopped in her tracks, her paws going slack and her violet eyes widening as the cocoa and muffin tumbled to the ground in front of her.

Nick and Joseph immediately sprang to attention, realizing that something was very clearly wrong. "Carrots?" Nick called out to his lover, who was still several yards down the sidewalk, standing still as a statue with a slightly shocked expression on her face. "Judy? Sweetie, what is it, are you okay?"

"Nick…" the bunny finally managed to choke out, her voice barely more than a whisper as the two foxes continued toward her. Joseph couldn't help but feel as though the two of them had been walking towards Judy for several minutes but hadn't advanced an inch.

"Judy?" Joseph called out to her, panic beginning to creep into his voice. His feet began to pick up speed, but still neither he nor his adoptive father were any closer to the rabbit. "Judy, what's wrong?"

"S-something's happening…" Judy groaned softly. She finally moved then, her large rabbit feet shuffling forward as she began to try and close the space between herself and her partner. As though in slow motion, Joseph saw her lips begin to form Nick's name once again, but she never got the chance to say it.

As she slowly tried to move towards them, Judy's toes caught on the overturned tray that had carried the hot cocoa, which was currently running in thick, black rivulets down the sidewalk and into the gutter. She stumbled forward, her bright purple eyes blank in shock, her arms stretched outwards towards her fox as if she hoped that she would catch him. But Nick and Joseph still seemed unable to move forward at all, and the only thing they could do was watch in horror as Judy fell.

Time seemed to slow to a nearly imperceptible crawl as Judy fell forward. The air became still and suddenly, painfully hot as the bunny plummeted face-first towards the pavement. Joseph saw that what seemed to be flecks and bits of ash were trailing off of Judy's ears and paws as she went down, and it was only when her knees hit the ground that he realized that the ashes weren't  _on_  Judy - they  _were_ Judy.

The kit heard his father cry out Judy's name as she collapsed, but the sound of his voice seemed to come from a thousand feet beneath the ocean, so horrified was Joseph by the sight before him. For, just as Judy's limp form met the ground, the sweet little bunny that Joseph had almost come to see as a mother crumbled into dust, a final sigh escaping her lips before she vanished into nothingness.

Time seemed to resume its normal pace the moment that Judy turned to ash on the ground. Nick and his son stared in shock at the spot where Judy had just been as even the ashes she had left seemed to fade from existence. The two were only broken from their horrified stupor by the sudden sound of a car crashing into the hot chocolate stand in front of them.

Joseph numbly lifted his eyes to the pile of splintered wood that the vehicle had left, expecting to hear screams of fright and see mammals running away from the scene. What he saw, however, was a million times more terrifying, even in his shell-shocked state. "What the…" the kit murmured, his voice catching in his throat as he beheld the horror that was unfolding around him.

Everywhere he looked, the mammals that moments ago had been going about their day on the busy streets of Savannah Central were falling silently to the ground, each of them disintegrating into a cloud of ashes, swiftly erased from his vision by a hot, dry wind that blew through the city like a gust out of hell. Joseph slowly began to turn around, looking at the silent carnage as mammal after mammal turned to dust. He could smell something burning, and saw that the sky was beginning to darken with black clouds of smoke and ash, but he couldn't tell where from. He caught the gaze of a pretty young skunk girl in torn blue-jeans and a purple jacket, her crystal blue eyes asking for help as she, too, crumbled to the ground and faded into nothing.

"Nick," Joseph choked out through the heavy air and his own tears, "Nick, what's happen-" His question was cut short, however, as he finally turned to meet his father's eyes...and saw that the left side of Nick's face was slowly beginning to turn to ash.

"Joseph…" Nick said tiredly, tears seeping from his eyes as he stretched out his fading arms to his son. The younger fox lunged towards the elder, but, when he tried to wrap his arms around his father, Joseph found only empty space, and the only remnants of what had once been Nicholas Wilde were a fading cloud of dust.

" _NIIIIIIIIIICK_!" Joseph screamed at the top of his lungs, his shock finally giving way to full-blown panic. "NICK, NO, COME BACK!" He fell to his knees, paws frantically grasping at the fading particles that had been his father as if he could put him back together again. " _Dad, please, NO!_ "

Knowing that there was nothing that he could do, that his family was gone, that he had failed them just like he had failed Wolford, just like he had failed at everything else in his miserable, hellish life, Joseph slammed his fist into the concrete so hard that he felt the bones in his paw shatter. He barely registered the pain as he threw back his head and screamed wordlessly into the sky, hot, angry tears flowing from his amber eyes to cut through the ash settling into his fur.

Just when Joseph was sure that his heart would shatter from grief and he would crumble into nothing just like the rest of the world seemingly had, Joseph heard a voice like thunder boom out of nowhere and everywhere at once, the sound reverberating through his skull and bones and heart and soul so forcefully that he clamped his paws over his ears in an effort to keep from being completely deafened. The gesture was futile, however, as the voice seemed to be inside of him as much as out.

 _In time,_ the voice intoned, monstrously loud and menacing, but simultaneously deep and calm,  _you will know what it's like to lose. To feel so desperately that you're right, yet to fail all the same…_

"This isn't real," Joseph whimpered to himself, his eyes still clamped shut in fear. "It can't be real. It's a dream, I'm dreaming. I...I have to wake up...it's a nightmare, it isn't real, it  _can't_ be…"

 _Oh, but it_ is  _real, Joseph,_ the bodiless voice said to him sadistically, the air around him becoming hotter and drier with every word.  _All that you've ever seen or known is nothing but a shadow, an illusion._ This  _is your reality._

When the kit finally opened his burning eyes, he found that he was no longer kneeling on the sidewalk in Savannah Central, but rather on a grassy hill on the other side of the bay, looking towards the city of Zootopia splayed out before him in all its shining glory. Off to the west, just where the sun was beginning to set, Joseph saw what looked like a crimson line of fire and blood, stretching from the ground to the sky, sweep across the Zootopian landscape, swallowing everything in its path. Everywhere the red line passed, the buildings and trees and cars and street lamps remained, but now they were all decrepit, blackened, burning, the skyscrapers belching black smoke into the sky. The line continued to sweep over everything in his field of vision, consuming the gleaming, idyllic world he had come to love and revealing a smoldering ruin of dust and ashes. Half of the buildings of Zootopia had crumbled into rubble, and the rest were on fire, clouds of putrid smoke pouring forth from them and filling the sky, completely blotting out the sun. When the line had finally finished its circuit around the world he knew, Joseph saw that, all around him, everything was burning.

 _This is your reality, Joseph,_ repeated the demonic voice from nowhere.  _Reality is often disappointing, isn't it? You thought you had walked into heaven, and you have turned it into hell._

"No!" Joseph cried out in despair, his paws clutching wildly at his skull in panic. "That's not me! It wasn't me! I-I couldn't-"

 _It doesn't matter if you could or not,_ the voice told him.  _Little fox, it's a simple calculus. Basic cause and effect. Look at your life, your legacy, and what do you find? Fire and blood, dust and ashes. Look at yourself and know the truth: that everything you touch dies. Wherever you go, death and destruction will inevitably follow. Everything you love burns down to ashes. This is your life, your reality, your destiny._ I  _am your destiny._

 _"NO!"_  Joseph screamed, his voice shrill with fear and sorrow, his breath torn by ragged sobs as he tried to breathe the toxic air of the burning world. "Th-th-th-that's not true! That's not me,  _that's not my life-"_

 _YES IT IS!_ the voice roared at him, so loud that Joseph could swear he felt his brain burst and his bones shatter as the infinite sound reverberated through him and down into the cracked, scorched earth below.  _You know it to be true, in your heart, in your wretched, broken soul._   _It doesn't matter what you do, Joseph. Dread it, run from it...destiny still arrives. Sooner or later, everything burns. You cannot escape it...you cannot escape me. I am fire, little one. I am death. I am...inevitable._

The terrified fox was about to make another whimpering reply to the voice, but he never got the chance. Before his lips could form any words of defiance or rebuttal, another voice spoke out of the clouds of blood and dust around him-a voice like a tinkling bell, like a spring of fresh water, like a breeze of purest air. The voice that had told him the exact opposite of everything the darkness had just stated, the voice that had asked him to stay. The voice of his angel.

"Joey?" Jamie said from behind him, her voice weak and frightened. The fox immediately wheeled toward her, and saw that she was standing on the burnt grass of the hill just a few feet away from him. The beautiful bunny seemed untouched by the ashes that pervaded the air, her caramel fur as pure and spotless as it had been on the night he first held her in his arms. Her family pendant gleamed at her throat, the amber stone within burning almost as brightly as the fires that had consumed Zootopia, and the only sign that she had been touched at all by the destruction around them was the thin line of scarlet blood and black ashes on the hem of her flowing gossamer wedding gown.

" _Jamie,"_ the fox finally sobbed out, his soul simultaneously filled with joy that she was here, and worry at the frightened look on her face. He did his best to leap up from the ground, but his limbs felt like lead as he stretched his arms out towards the girl he loved more than anything in the universe. He felt fresh tears beginning to flow from his eyes as he made his way towards her, burning like acid as they flowed down his cheeks. "Baby, sweetie, are you okay? Are you hurt? Jamie, I-"

" _Joey,"_ the rabbit interrupted him, her voice pinched in pain and worry. Jamie took a shaking step towards him, her perfect paws coming to rest on her abdomen as though she had a sudden stomach ache. "I...I don't feel so good…" She stumbled a tiny bit, and Joseph's heart dropped straight through his stomach and down into the earth as he saw a tiny flake of ash drift from the tip of Jamie's ear.

" _Buttercup,"_ Joseph choked out, the word barely intelligible. He stretched out his arms to his bunny as they approached each other, his heart hurting more than he ever thought it could as more and more flecks of dust began to trail from Jamie's body. "Jamie, it's...it's okay," he said, knowing it was a lie. "You...you're alright, baby…"

"I don't...I don't know what's happening…" Jamie muttered as she stumbled forward, directly into the waiting embrace of her fox. Her gentle, perfect paws clutched at him like a lifeline, her arms wrapped as tightly around him as they had been on the night of the storm. A ragged sob tore itself from the bunny's chest as she began to weep, burying her muzzle in her boyfriend's shoulder as she continued to fade away. " _I don't wanna go,_ " she said tearfully, the gentle pressure of Joseph's paws on her back doing little to calm the panic in her voice. "I don't wanna go, Joey, please…"

" _Jamie,_ " whispered Joseph, doing his best to be calm for her, trying with all his might to be strong. His perfect bunny went limp in his arms, and he slowly lowered the both of them to the ground so that she was sitting in his lap, the fox's tender embrace the only world she knew. "It's okay, baby. It's okay. You...you're gonna be alright…"

" _Joey, please,_ " Jamie cried out to him in anguish, her paws loosening their grip on his shoulders as they began to crumble to ashes. "Joey, I don't wanna go,  _I don't wanna go-"_

"I'm right here, baby," Joseph crooned to her, allowing his one true love to lay down in his arms as he cradled her. A trembling, black-furred paw gently stroked her caramel cheek, the pad of his thumb brushing away the tears that tore at his heart like knives. "I'm right here, and I'm not gonna leave you. I p-p-p-promised, remember? I p-promised you I'd s-s-stay.  _Always._ " The heartbroken mammal looked deep into the eyes of the rabbit he loved, and saw the unthinkable shining in them-love. He let out a sob and leaned down to press his lips to Jamie's in a final, loving kiss. " _I love you, Jamie,"_ he told her.

"J-Joey…" she said, her voice quiet and still as her arms and shoulders turned to dust. Her sky-blue eyes met his own one last time, and they held all the love he could ever want or need. " _I'm sorry,"_  Jamie whispered to her fox. "I'm sorry…"

And then, with those words on her lips and her eyes locked on Joseph's, Jamie faded into ashes in his arms, the pieces of what had been his entire universe blowing away in the hot wind as the golden pendant she had worn slowly fell towards his paws. There was a sound like a whisper of breath, and Jamie Hopps was gone.

For what seemed like an eternity of agonizing numbness, Joseph knelt in the middle of the apocalypse and watched that amulet fall. Fire danced within the orange stone, brighter than the sun, and when the gem met his paw, Joseph felt the flames surge straight into his soul.

Every piece of Joseph's being ignited in an instant, the heat of a thousand dying stars searing every particle of his body, every facet of his soul. Barely able to think through his despair and unable to scream through the flames, Joseph closed his fist around the gem in his paw, and he let himself burn.

The breath that the young fox sucked in as he jerked upright in his bed felt like a shard of ice in his chest after the fire of the nightmare. He tore his paws out from underneath the blankets, gasping for air as he examined them, finally concluding that he was not burning alive. Casting his eyes around the nearly pitch-black bedroom, Joseph could see that everything was exactly as it should be-no fire, no ash, no blood, no death. He let out a groan as he continued to pant heavily, the agony of the dream still fresh in his chest as he threw off the blankets and made his way to the kitchen sink. His mouth felt like it had been stuffed full of sand, and he could tell that he was probably dehydrated.

After his fifth glass of icy water, Joseph finally let himself drag in a long, shaking breath. "Oh, god…" he muttered quietly through silent tears as he rested his paws on the edge of the sink. "Oh, God, help me…" He was so focused on trying to drive the memory of his nightmare from his mind that he didn't notice the sound of padded paws on the floor behind him.

"Joseph?" Nick said quietly from the shadowy doorway, his voice concerned.

The younger fox immediately threw a glance over his shoulder at the sound, his amber eyes briefly meeting the green ones of his adopted father. "Hey, Nick," he replied, the words coming out as more of a groan than he had meant them to. He passed a weary paw over his face as he turned around to face the elder fox. He was wearing his usual nightly attire-basketball shorts and an old t-shirt, a style that Joseph had come to adopt for himself. "Wha-what are you doing up? I...I didn't wake you, did I? Or-or Judy?"

"No, I just had to go to the bathroom and I saw the kitchen light on," Nick responded. "And Carrots is pretty much dead to the world after today. Had a little too much wine tonight after hearing about that bison. What about you? You okay, buddy?"

"Yeah," Joseph lied, crossing his arms over his chest in an attempt to hide the tremors going through his paws. Though he had probably chugged nearly a gallon of water at this point, his mouth still felt like a desert and his heart, while having slowed down a bit, was still thumping erratically. "Why do you ask?"

"Well," said Nick, doing his best to choose his words carefully so as not to make Joseph uncomfortable, "you're up at two in the morning, you asked if you woke me up even though you usually make about as much noise as a shadow, and...well, I may not have your nose, Joe, but I know what fear smells like." The older vulpine laid a tender paw on the shoulder of his son, an expression of genuine care and concern on his face. "Did you have another nightmare?" he asked quietly.

Joseph swallowed thickly at the question, closing his eyes for a moment before giving a terse nod. "Yeah," he told Nick, hoping it could be left at that.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

" _No,_ " the kit replied immediately, the answer sharper than he had meant it to be. He shook his head, trying to cast the image of his family crumbling to dust from his mind as he pinched the bridge of his snout. "I just...I just want to forget it, Nick. I don't want to talk about it. Ever."

"Joseph," Nick said tenderly, placing his free paw on Joseph's other shoulder, "c'mon, you can talk to me. You know you don't have to be ashamed of whatev-"

"I'm not ashamed of it," Joseph very nearly growled out through gritted teeth, his eyes still clamped shut. He could feel sobs building in his chest as the still-fresh feelings of the nightmare were called to the forefront of his mind. "I don't want to remember it, Nick. I just...I just wanna go back to bed, okay? We've gotta be up early to get on the train to Bunnyburrow anyway." He moved towards the door without meeting Nick's eyes, hoping that the excuse of needing to rest before their Thanksgiving trip would quell any of his father's worries. He swiftly made his way back to his bedroom, but Nick was right on his heels. The kit was about to throw back the covers of his bed again when Nick stopped him, grabbing his left arm in a firm grip.

" _Joseph Nicholas Wilde,_ " the reynard said, his voice catching just a little as he spun the kit around to face him. It was still hard for him to believe that Joseph had chosen to name himself after him. "I am your  _father,_ okay? You can talk to me about  _anything._ This is obviously bothering you, and we both know that bottling up pain never leads anywhere good."

" _Please don't_ ," Joseph said softly, his voice finally cracking at the way that Nick looked at him, those big green eyes full of nothing but love and concern. "Please don't make me talk about it, Nick. Please d-d-don't make me remember…"

"Joey," Nick said lovingly, using the pet name that was usually reserved for Jamie, "it was just a dream, buddy, okay? It's not real. I'm right here-"

" _But you weren't,_ " the kit suddenly croaked out, tears springing from his eyes. "You w-w-w-weren't there b-because you...I dreamt you…" Joseph bowed his head in grief, doing his best to keep the memories away. "I lost you."

"What do you mean, you lost me, buddy?" Nick asked him.

" _I dreamt you died!"_ Joseph cried out. "You and..and Judy, and J-J-J-Jamie, and- _everybody_ just...turned to dust and the world was burning and it was all my f-f-fault…"

Before Nick could reply, his son's knees went out from underneath him and he collapsed into the older fox's arms, his shoulders shaking with sobs. " _I LOST MY FAMILY!"_ the kit practically screamed into Nick's shirt. It was all the older fox could do to keep himself together as he gently guided Joseph towards the bed, keeping a firm grip on his shoulders as he laid both of them down. Nick felt his heart break as he wrapped his arms around his son's trembling frame, tears seeping from his eyes at the words he spoke.

"Oh, god, Nick, please,  _please don't leave me!_ " he groaned out in anguish. "Please don't leave me, Nick,  _please_ don't leave!"

" _I won't,_ " Nick said, trying and failing to keep his voice steady. He hugged the kit tightly to his chest, his trembling lips placing a tender kiss atop his bright orange head. "I'm gonna stay right here, okay, buddy? I love you and I am  _never ever leaving you."_  His child's only response was to sob violently into his shirt, his hot tears soaking straight through into Nick's fur as his paws clutched at his father's shoulders. "I'm right here, buddy," Nick crooned. "I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere." Another ragged sob emanated from Joseph's muzzle, followed by a word that made Nick Wilde's heart feel like it was about to explode.

" _Daddy,_ " Joseph cried out as he hugged his father, his strong but gentle arms the only comfort he knew. "Daddy, please...please don't leave me, Daddy, I love you... _I don't wanna lose you, Dad…"_

Within seconds, Nick dissolved into as much of a weeping pile of fur as his own son had, burying his nose in the crook of the younger reynard's neck as though he was just a little child. "You won't, buddy," Nick said shakily. "Dad's right here, Joseph. Dad's right here and I'm not gonna leave. I'm gonna stay right here with you, buddy, okay? As long as you need me." He placed another tearful kiss on his son's brow, one paw pressing the kit close to his heart while the other gently stroked his back in comfort. "I'm with you 'til the end of the line, Joseph. I promise."

For close to half an hour Nick held his son in his arms as his sobs slowly began to diminish into quiet tears, then to sniffles, and finally to the occasional shudder of his shoulders. When both foxes were all cried out, Joseph spoke hoarsely to his father from where he rested in his arms.

" _Stay_ ," he begged with a sniffle, the same way that Jamie had once begged him. "Please. I...I don't wanna be alone tonight."

"Of course, I'll stay, buddy," Nick replied lovingly. "I'm never gonna leave you, Joseph. I promise." The kit's only reply was to snuggle up to Nick's chest like a little cub, the sound of his father's heartbeat guiding him gently towards sleep.

A few minutes later, just when Nick was beginning to drift off himself, he heard Joseph's voice speak quietly from beside him. "Hey, Nick?" he asked, his tone almost nervous.

"Yeah, buddy?" the vulpine replied.

"That wasn't...weird earlier, was it?" Joseph inquired vaguely. "When I...when I called you 'daddy'?"

A whisper of laughter escaped Nick's muzzle at the question. "No, Joseph," he replied. "It wasn't weird at all." Another moment passed before Joseph spoke once more.

"Nick," he breathed, "would...would it be okay if, from now on, I...I called you...D-Dad?"

At the question, the older reynard pulled back slightly from the younger so that he could look his son in the eyes, his own brimming with tears yet again as a beaming smile split his face. "Joseph," he said with trembling voice, "there's  _nothing_  that would make me happier." The look of absolute joy that crossed Joseph's face at his response was one of the most wonderful things that Nick had ever seen. He leaned down and pressed a final fatherly kiss to Joseph's head, snuggling him tenderly to himself like the child he knew he was inside. "I love you, son," Nick said, his words barely a whisper.

"Love you too, Dad," Joseph replied, all the horror of his nightmare gone as the gentle rise and fall of his dad's chest lulled him into a dreamless slumber.


	30. Meet the Parents

Joseph could feel his mind buzzing as Jamie's thumb traced gentle circles on the soft, squishy pad of his palm, his heart beating heavily as it did every time she touched him. He gave her paw a gentle squeeze, closing his eyes as he thanked his stars for the thousandth time that this perfect bunny was his girlfriend.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" came the soft voice of the caramel angel at his side. Joseph opened his eyes and turned his head towards Jamie, finding that her own eyes were gazing wistfully out the window of the train car as the skyline of Zootopia flew by, her perfect lapine features banishing any memory of last night's nightmare that had been lingering in his mind. "I'm glad we decided to leave before the sun came up. There's nothing like seeing the lights from Sahara Square against the night sky."

"It is pretty gorgeous," the fox replied, turning back towards the window set into the top cabin of the train car. His amber eyes caught on the bright neon lights of the Palm Hotel glowing against the predawn sky. "I didn't get to go into the big cities much where I grew up. Hardly ever left the town limits, actually."

"Me neither," Jamie said with an airy laugh. Joseph felt his heart skip a beat at the sound. "The first time I ever saw Zootopia was the day I moved here, just like Judy. Except I didn't arrive until about ten o'clock at night, so I got to see the lights. It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen." She set her right elbow on the windowsill and laid her chin in her paw, her left keeping a firm but gentle grip on Joseph's.

"That it is," replied Joseph, his mouth going dry as he thought of what he wanted to say to her. Even though they'd been dating for nearly three weeks now, he still felt like a nervous schoolboy talking to his crush every time he paid her a compliment. "But," he continued, turning his body towards his girlfriend and putting on the most confident smile he could muster, "the skyline's only the  _second_ most beautiful thing I can see from this train this morning."

Jamie turned towards him, a rueful smile on her face as she grasped Joseph's left paw in her right. "And what might number one be, Mister Wilde?" she asked playfully, batting her lashes at him.

"I'll give you a hint," he answered, gently tugging the bunny towards him so that their bodies were almost touching. "It's small, and soft, and sweet…" The fox leaned down to lightly boop his nose against Jamie's. "...and it makes me happier than anything else in the world."

Jamie's breath puffed against Joseph's face, setting his heart racing again. The bunny was glad that her boyfriend's eyes were trained on hers so that he hopefully didn't notice the blush roaring through her ears. "Hmm…" she mused. "Is it...a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup?"

"Well, yes, but actually no," Joseph quipped as he brushed his snout against his girlfriend's cheek, breathing her scent in as though it were the only air he'd known for weeks. "The most beautiful thing I can see from this train this morning-in fact, the most beautiful thing I've  _ever_ seen in my life-is my small, soft, sweet, perfect little Buttercup." As he breathed the last word out against the cream-colored fur of Jamie's muzzle, Joseph gently laid his mouth on hers, taking her lower lip between his own as she melted into the kiss.

Jamie wasted no time in wrapping her paws around her fox's neck, allowing him to pick her up and spin her in a slow circle around the cabin as he kept his arms, clothed in a brand-new black winter jacket, wrapped tightly around her waist. She felt everything else in the world vanish around her until there was nothing but the feeling of Joseph's paws on her back, his lips on hers, and the sound of their racing hearts.

Once Joseph had completed their circle, he backed up and fell back onto the soft velvet cushions of the bench along the train car's wall. Jamie's jean-clad legs rested comfortably in his lap as they continued to kiss, each mammal lost in the embrace of the other. They finally broke apart after several minutes, both of their chests falling and rising rapidly.

"Sly fox," Jamie teased, planting a tender peck on the underside of the reynard's jaw. "Probably best we keep our make-out sessions to a minimum once we get to Bunnyburrow. The last thing I want is for dear old Dad to think my fox is mauling me and get out the Fox Taser."

"Your dad has a  _Fox Taser?_ " Joseph asked in astonishment.

"Not anymore, I don't think," the bunny said, her paws tracing gentle circles on the dark gray fabric of her boyfriend's t-shirt. "He tried to give one to Judy last year when she left for Zootopia, but she wouldn't take it. I'm pretty sure he threw it out."

Joseph let out a heavy sigh, letting his head fall back against the cool window of the train car as the last lights of Sahara Square faded into the distance. He could feel the anxiety growing in his chest as he tried to find the words to say. This was why he had wanted to come up to the viewing cabin, after all, away from where Nick, Judy, and Mrs. Wilde sat below.

"What is it?" Jamie asked, noticing his suddenly dour demeanor. "Is something wrong?"

"No, not really," he replied unconvincingly. "I mean…" He thought for a moment as he passed a paw across his face, the other laid on the small of Jamie's red-leather-clad back as he tried to figure out how to start. He let out another sigh. "Did you know that Judy and N-Judy and my dad are going to tell your parents about their relationship while we're in Bunnyburrow? Probably before Thanksgiving dinner tonight?"

"Yeah, I think Judy mentioned it to me. Why?"

"Well, I'm guessing that if they don't know about those two, that means that...they probably don't know about  _us_  either, right?"

Jamie bit her lip in a slightly guilty expression, lowering her eyes from Joseph's. "Right," she stated matter-of-factly.

"So, how do you think they're going to react when they find out you've been dating a fox they've never met before?" Joseph asked sincerely. "Especially one they know almost nothing about."

"Well, that's not any of my parents' business," Jamie replied, her eyes meeting his yet again. "I'm an adult, I live on my own, so they don't really get a say in who I do or don't date."

" _I_ know that," the fox defended. "I guess I'm just worried that…" He heaved another sigh, heavier this time, and pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly. "God, I don't even know what exactly I'm worried about, not really."

"Are you worried that they won't like you?" the bunny inquired of him. "'Cause, Joey, it might take a while, but I'm sure they'll come to see what an amazing guy you are-"

"I don't care whether or not your parents like me, Jamie," Joseph interrupted. "As long as I have you, Dad, and Judy, I'm happy. I'm worried that...I don't know, I guess I'm worried about what they'll think of  _you._ "

"'What they'll think of  _me_ '?" she asked. "Joseph, what do you mean? They might be kind of old-fashioned, but they're my parents. They love me."

"I'm sure that they do, Buttercup," the fox said, and she saw by the look in his eyes that he meant it. "But you and Judy have both said how your parents haven't always had the most charitable views towards foxes, and...well, harsh feelings towards certain groups isn't exactly something unique to this world. It's a big problem where I come from, too. It wasn't a big deal in the area where I lived, but I had family down south, and it is a  _huge_ problem down there. One of my cousins married a black man, and my uncle pretty much disowned her for it."

Jamie wrinkled her nose in disgust. "He disowned her over the color of her husband's  _fur?_ " she asked.

"Skin, technically," responded Joseph. "There's a lot of people in my world-very,  _very_ stupid people-who for some reason think that the value of a human person is based on skin color, or that somehow people with darker skin aren't to be trusted. It's a load of crap, obviously, but a lot of people are raised with it and just don't know any better. That's basically what Judy told me happened with her and Nick at the press conference during the Night Howler case."

"Joey, do you really think my parents would disown me for dating a  _fox_?"

"You tell me," the vulpine said pointedly, his eyes locked on those of his girlfriend. He carefully gathered her paws up from where they rested over his heart and clasped them between his own. "All I know is that I want what's best for  _you_ , Buttercup. All I want in the world is for you to be happy. I never want to be the cause of pain between you and your family. I...I'd rather you be happy with them than miserable with me."

Jamie felt her shoulders go slack and her ears droop behind her head at her boyfriend's words. She did her best to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat as she stared into those sweet, warm amber eyes of his. Even in the face of possibly being tased by her father, he was still only concerned about her.  _Why are you so sweet?_ the bunny thought to herself.  _Why do you have to be so damn noble and selfless and heart-wrenchingly perfect, Joseph Wilde? Why do you make me feel this way about you when it's way too soon to say it?_

She didn't voice her thoughts, but merely blinked the mist from her eyes and laid her paw against the warm orange fur of Joseph's cheek. "Joey," she said in a voice so sweet it hurt, "if my parents, if my brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and all the rest of my family, can't see what an amazing, kind, selfless, caring mammal you are, then they  _aren't_  my real family." She laid her other paw on Joseph's other cheek, clasping his face as she softly pressed her lips to his.

"Nick and Judy are my family," she said when she pulled away from him. " _You_ are my family, Joseph."

Joseph could only stare in awe at his bunny for a moment before leaning down and planting a tender kiss on the top of her head, just between her ears. "'Ohana," he said quietly to her, leaning his forehead against her own.

"'Ohana," she repeated, wishing with all her might that she could tell him there and then how she really felt. She knew, however, that it was far too soon for that, that she might just scare him off, and so she settled for leaning her head on Joseph's chest and thinking the words she longed to say as the steady beat of the fox's heart lulled her into a dreamless sleep.

 _I love you, Joseph,_  the bunny thought as she drifted off.

It never occurred to her that, with every beat of Joseph's heart that sounded in her ears, he thought the exact same words to her.

It was almost noon when the train glided into the Bunnyburrow train station, the cloudless sky providing an unseasonably warm climate for the day before Thanksgiving. Nick, Judy, Joseph, Jamie, and Mrs. Wilde all gathered up their luggage-containing about three days worth of clothes for each of them-and slowly began to file out of the train car. It took longer than any of them would have liked, as every door on the train was currently clogged with hordes upon hordes of bunnies visiting the Burrows for the holiday.

"You're not claustrophobic, are you, Joseph?" Mrs. Wilde asked jokingly from his left side as a portly hare aggressively shouldered his way past the vulpines. The three predators had earned more than a few odd looks from the crowd of rabbits exiting the train.

"Not exactly," Joseph answered the vixen. He had just met her a couple days ago, when he and the rest of their little family had eaten dinner together at Mrs. Wilde's apartment. Her cooking was absolutely sublime, and she and Joseph had immediately forged a connection that was not too unlike that of a grandmother and her grandkit-in a way, that's what they were, after all. "Herds of rabbits don't bother me so much as being stuck inside an enclosed space."

"A group of rabbits is actually called a fluffle," Judy offered up, her voice barely audible over the chatter of the bunnies.

"Why am I not surprised by that?" Nick said with a wry smile. "You bunnies always have to come up with the cu-I mean, most adorable names for everything, don't you?"

"Oh, trust me, Slick," Jamie quipped from Joseph's other side, her shoulder pressed warmly against his own, "if the naming had been up to us, we would've chosen something cool, like a 'shadow' or a 'glaring'."

"Looks like we're coming up on the exit," Joseph said, breaking the conversation as he craned his neck over the fluffle of bunnies. "Everybody got your bags?"

"Yep," answered the other mammals collectively.

"Here we go, then," the fox murmured to himself as the fluffle began to thin before him, the bright noonday sun glaring in his eyes. He felt warm concrete on the pads of his feet as he stepped into the warm, fresh air of Bunnyburrow, taking a deep breath now that he was finally free of the congestion of the train car. He could smell earth and sweat and hints of carrots, strawberries, blueberries, and all sorts of other produce drifting through the air from across the rolling fields of the Burrows. Just a single breath of that clean country air helped calm his racing heart and slightly drown out the chatter of the rabbits around him.

A few moments later, the crowd of bunnies cleared enough for them to move forward towards the station. Joseph scanned his eyes over the rabbits waiting for their families, and quickly caught on the middle-aged buck in suspenders and a green cap that he knew from Judy's pictures to be her father, Stu Hopps. His wife Bonnie was standing on his left side in a pale pink vest and jeans, her paws clasped loosely in front of her, and on Stu's right side stood-

Joseph almost stopped in his tracks when he saw the bunny standing next to Jamie's father, his paws stuffed into the pockets of his camouflage jacket . Had it not been for the thin but muscular torso that strained against the black t-shirt the buck was wearing, Joseph would have sworn that Jamie had teleported next to her father. He looked exactly like her-caramel-and-cream fur, chocolate-tipped ears, and sky-blue eyes. Joseph was spared from wondering who the buck was when he heard his girlfriend squeal from beside him.

" _Daniel?!_ " the doe shouted out with glee. With a shriek of excitement, Jamie dropped her luggage on the ground, nearly causing Joseph and Mrs. Wilde to trip, and ran towards the buck called Daniel at full speed. The rabbit opened his arms wide, revealing a black Def Leppard t-shirt beneath the jacket, and a loving smile lit up his face as Jamie leapt into his arms. Joseph could see Judy's eyes light up as well as she pushed towards her family, leaving the three foxes in her wake as she folded her parents in a hug.

"How's it goin', Squeaker?" Daniel said, his voice deep and smooth. Joseph couldn't stop the flare of jealousy that went through him as the buck rubbed his caramel paws up and down Jamie's back. Without even realizing, the vulpine felt a low growl rise from the back of his throat as his ears instinctively laid back in a defensive position.

"Oh my gosh, Daniel, I can't believe you're here!" the doe said, almost hopping up and down with excitement. She quickly leaned to the side and enfolded her parents in a hug before turning back to the buck. "When did you get home?"

"Couple nights ago," he replied, his paw tousling the fur atop Jamie's head. "Finished my ag final early, so I got to come home sooner than I thought I would. Had to surprise my baby sister, am I right?" The buck playfully dug his paws into Jamie's sides, tickling her softly as a series of squeaky giggles emanated from her muzzle.

"Quit it, you dumbbuck!" Jamie cried with laughter. She lightly shoved the bunny away. "And I'm only your baby sister by two minutes."

 _Oh, thank God,_ Joseph thought as he and the other two foxes approached the Hopps family, their bags hanging somewhat awkwardly from their paws. He felt his ears spring back up as he realized how Daniel knew his girlfriend.  _He's just her brother._

"Hey," Daniel said, waving a sarcastic finger at his sister, "no name-calling on Thanksgi-" His words caught in his throat as his sky-blue eyes locked on Nick, Joseph, and Nick's mother, his mouth almost going slack in apparent shock.

The change in Daniel's demeanor was instantaneous. His back and ears straightened as he puffed out his chest, and there was an air of professionalism about him as he deftly moved to stand in front of Jamie, almost as though he was protecting her. "Can I help you fo-folks?" he asked, his tone suddenly cold. Joseph could tell from his inflection that he'd been about to say  _foxes._

Judy didn't seem to notice the sudden change as she responded to Daniel's query. "Oh, right, I forgot, not everyone here's met!" she said to nobody in particular. "Okay, introductions. Daniel, this is my partner on the ZPD, Officer Nick Wilde. Nick, this is my little brother Daniel. He and Jamie are twins." She laid a paw tenderly on Nick's shoulder as the fox extended his own russet paw towards Daniel, a kind smile on his face. After a barely perceptible pause, Daniel reached out and shook it.

"Pleasure to meet you, Daniel," he said. "And nice to see you again Mr. and Mrs. Ho-oh!" His words were cut off as Stu and Bonnie grabbed the reynard's shoulders and pulled him into a hug.

"Get in here, Nicky boy!" Stu said energetically. "We're huggers in this family!"

"I can see that!" Nick replied with a laugh. Both he and Joseph could notice that Daniel became a bit more at ease when he saw how his parents reacted to Nick's presence. When the bunnies released him, Nick took both his mother and his adopted son by the arm and led them closer to Judy's relatives. "Daniel, Mr. and Mrs. Hopps," he intoned respectfully, "I'd like to introduce you to the all-time world record holder for most patient vixen on the planet, my mother, Lisa Wilde."

"Glad to finally meet you, Mrs. Wilde," Bonnie said as she gave the vixen's paw a quick shake before pulling her into a hug.

"You raised one heck of a kid, ma'am," Stu said respectfully as he took off his green hat and shook Mrs. Wilde's paw. Joseph could almost feel the heat coming off of Nick's face when he said that.

"Oh, please, you two can call me Lisa," the vixen replied sweetly.

"Pleasure to meet you, Lisa," Jamie's twin said with a somewhat tight expression as he gave her paw one swift squeeze before stuffing his own back in the pocket of his jacket. "And, uh, who's this?" he asked, his sky-blue eyes turning towards Joseph. Although they were the exact same color as Jamie's, they held little of the warmth that the fox had come to love in those of his sister. Joseph couldn't help but feel just a little intimidated, even though the buck's head barely came up to his snout.

Nick stepped between Joseph and his mother, slinging his left arm around Joseph's shoulders. The obvious pride in his voice when he spoke made Joseph's heart contract with filial affection.

"Stu, Bonnie, Daniel," the fox said, "I'd like you all to meet Joseph Wilde...my son."

All three pairs of bunny eyes widened immediately at Nick's proclamation. "Your...your son?" Stu asked, clearly confused and a bit scandalized.

"Unofficially adopted son, technically," Joseph interjected nervously. It was the first time he had spoken since they had exited the train, and he could hear the slight tremor in his own voice. The young fox did his best to keep his paw steady as he extended it towards that of Jamie's father. "It's an honor to finally meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Hopps. Judy and Jamie have told me a lot about you."

"Oh, right, Joseph!" Stu said, nodding his head in remembrance as he clasped Joseph's outstretched paw, his eyes flitting between the foxes. "The kit you two took in."

"Right," Joseph replied as he extricated himself from the friendly hug that Bonnie had wrapped him in, turning towards Jamie's twin brother. He extended his paw towards the buck, but Daniel kept his own paws clenched tightly in the pockets of his jacket as his cold blue eyes sized Joseph up.

"'Took him in'?" Daniel questioned, his eyes flitting to those of his older sister and speaking as though Joseph wasn't present. "What does that mean, you 'took him in'? Like, he was homeless or an orphan or something?"

"Both, more or less," the kit said, his throat tightening nervously as he lowered his unshaken paw back to his side. He felt Nick's paw tighten on his shoulder and felt better almost instantly. "I, uh, I didn't really have a family anymore, so...Nick and Judy became my family."

Bonnie placed her paw over her heart as an expression of awe spread over her face. "Oh, that is so sweet of you, Nick," she said. She was about to say something similar to Judy, but was interrupted by the sharp voice of her son.

"So, you live with two foxes now, huh, Jude?" the buck asked with a slightly poisonous grin. "Living dangerously in the big city, are we?" Though he wore a smile, nothing in his eyes suggested that Daniel was joking.

"Oh, shush, you," Jamie said jokingly to her twin with a gentle shove that he didn't even seem to notice. The doe seemed almost blissfully unaware of the thinly veiled venom in her brother's tone.

"Well," Bonnie said, pretending that Daniel hadn't spoken, "I'm sure you're a wonderful foster-father, Nick."

"Oh, you have no idea," Mrs. Wilde said in a very chatty-mom tone of voice. "I couldn't be more proud of my Nicky, the way he acts with Joseph. I just can't wait until he and Judy have kits of their o-" The vixen's enthusiastic expression immediately turned to one of self-realization, then of horror at the look that flashed over the faces of Judy's parents and brother. Both Nick and Judy's backs and ears went ramrod straight at Mrs. Wilde's words, and Nick couldn't stop the pinched look that crossed his muzzle as Stu asked the fated question.

"'Kits of their own'?" the elder rabbit asked, his expression one of light-hearted disbelief. "Heh, that almost makes it sound like the two of you are  _together_  or some...thing..." The buck's sentence trailed off into silence as he and his wife saw the slightly nervous glances that Nick and Judy exchanged as Mrs. Wilde placed her paw over face in shame. "Oh," he muttered simply.

"Nicky, I'm so sorry," the vixen said faintly, her voice sounding as though she was close to tears.

"You don't have to be sorry, Mom," Nick replied earnestly, a kind-hearted smile aimed at his mother. "We were gonna tell them today anyway."

"Tell who what?" Daniel demanded, his tone much more aggressive than the situation warranted. "What the hell's going on?"

"Nick and I aren't just partners," Judy blurted out, her shoulders set firm against whatever reaction she was about to receive from her family. "Or friends, or roommates. We're…" The doe paused for a moment, taking a deep breath before she reached down to clasp Nick's paw in her own. "We're in love," she stated at last.

There were several moments of very tense silence in which Stu, Bonnie, and Daniel simply stared at Nick and Judy's entwined paws as the two gazed lovingly at each other, the only sound being the bustle and chatter of the other bunnies roaming throughout the train station. Joseph and Jamie both watched Judy's parents and brother's faces carefully, waiting to gauge their reactions, both of them biting their lips anxiously as the silence dragged on. It was nearly thirty seconds before Stu finally spoke.

"For how long?" the buck asked, his voice flat and numb.

"About...about five months now," Judy answered shakily, her paw gripping her lover's so tightly it hurt. "Since June. Dad, Mom, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I just...I didn't know how…" Her words trailed off into a mumble as her ears gradually fell flat behind her head, her large violet eyes searching her parent's faces for signs of disapproval or even anger.

"Five months?" Bonnie asked pointedly, as if she was trying to make sure she had heard correctly. "The two of you have been dating for  _five months?_ "

"That's correct, Mrs. Hopps," Nick replied professionally, trying to be as respectful and sincere as he possibly could. Another moment of tense silence passed before it was broken by a single word from Stu.

" _Damn,_ " the buck swore, his head bowing as though in defeat.

"Dad," Judy said, her voice starting to break, "please don't-" Her words were cut off, however, by the oddly haughty voice of her mother. When she heard Bonnie speak, Judy's eyes flitted to the older doe, and she was shocked to see not an expression of disappointment or even shock. Rather, Bonnie wore a face that could only be described as smug, her paw stretched out towards her husband as though she expected a gift.

"Pay up, Stu," Bonnie said, her tone implying that she had just pulled a hustle. "I told you it wouldn't happen until summer."

"Can't believe it actually took you two that long," Stu grumbled as he pulled his wallet from the back of his overalls, quickly retrieving three $20 bills from its folds and handing them to his wife. "I was sure you two would be together by the time Nick graduated."

The couple in question could only blink stupidly at the rabbit's words. "I'm sorry,  _what?_ " Judy finally asked as Bonnie smugly pressed the money into the breast pocket of her shirt. "You-you guys  _knew?_ "

"Oh, come on now, Jude," Stu said to his daughter, his tone implying that he was explaining something obvious to a young child. "Even a blind buck could see that there was something special going on between you two the very first time you brought Nick to Bunnyburrow. The way you looked at each other, I'm honestly surprised you weren't together already."

A sound finally emanated from Nick's muzzle at that point, his face limp with utter shock. "I...uh…" he stuttered. "Carrots, help."

"So," Judy said, ignoring her partner's words while at the same time maintaining a good grip on his paw, "Mom, Dad, you guys are...okay with this?" The gray bunny held up the entwined paws of her and her lover to indicate what she meant.  
"'Okay'?" Bonnie parrotted back with a smirk. "Are we okay with the fact that our daughter is in love with a brave, strong, caring mammal whom we know would never hurt her? Yes, yes we are."

The muzzles of both Nick and Judy alike broke into dazzling smiles at the doe's words, and Judy could feel her violet eyes begin to tear up as she turned to gaze at the fox she loved with all her heart. "Nick, they-" she began to say, but her words were abruptly cut off as Nick pressed his lips against hers, wrapping her tiny body in his arms and kissing her tenderly. Everything around her vanished in the blink of an eye as her fox kissed her, the warmth of his lips on hers and his arms holding her snugly to his chest propelling her mind into the clouds.

All of the other mammals gathered on the train platform respectfully averted their gaze at the display of affection, and no one noticed the smiles on Jamie and Joseph's faces as their eyes met, their cheeks crinkled in hopeful joy. Nick and Judy broke apart after only a few seconds a whispered declaration of love passing between them and distracting the mammals present from Daniel's reaction. Unseen by the group, the caramel buck clenched his paws into fists in the pockets of his jacket, his teeth grinding together as he looked away.

"Well," Stu said a bit awkwardly, "now that, ahem,  _that's_ all taken care of, how's about we all head over to the house? We've got a while yet before dinner, so I'd love to show our new guests around the farm."

"That sounds awesome, Dad," Jamie said as she picked up her bags, an excited little hop in her step. If her parents had actually placed  _bets_ on when-not  _if,_ when-Nick and Judy would get together, how bad could they possibly react to her and Joseph's relationship? "I'm sure Joseph and Mrs. Wilde would love that."

"I know I certainly would," Joseph said lightly, his mood calming with every passing second. "I'm just hoping I get to try some of the county-famous produce that Jamie's always telling me about."

"Oh, don't you worry about that, Joseph," Bonnie replied to him with a wink. "I've got plenty of fresh-baked goodies ready for dessert tonight."

Daniel, his paws still scrunched into his pockets as he tried to stay as far away from the trio of foxes as he could without it being obvious, interjected suddenly. "Mom, please tell me you made the-"

"Yes, Danny, I made the pecan pie  _just for you,_ " the doe finished for him, a tone of motherly annoyance in her voice. "In fact, you've got a whole pie to yourself this year."

" _Yessss!_ " the buck practically moaned as he threw his head back in relief, his big brown feet guiding him off the platform and towards the massive brown Hopps family van parked on the other side of the station. The mood among the group of mammals, the tight-eyed buck included, was light and happy as they piled into the slightly rusted-out vehicle, and none of them noticed the ice-blue eyes watching their movements from a shadowy corner of the station, the lips of the wolf looming within them curling in a wicked sneer.

 _Count your blessings now, bunnies,_ the lupine thought to himself as he almost instinctively memorized the van's license plate, his massive paw tightly gripping the handle of the suitcase at his side.  _'Cause by tomorrow night you'll be my Thanksgiving dinner._


	31. Shattered

"You're done for, Wilde," Daniel growled venomously as he stared into Nick's emerald eyes, his caramel-furred paw tightly grasping the handle of the tool that would be his foe's demise. "You've been lucky so far, but now you're  _mine_."

"Bring it on, cottontail," the reynard replied with a sneer as he sized up his opponent. "I can't wait to see the look on your face when I end y-" The fox was unable to finish his sentence, as Daniel used the time Nick was taking to gloat to make his move.

The rabbit's right paw swung upward in a graceful but vicious arc, his weapon a blur. Caught in the middle of his own words of pride, the fox was unable to parry Daniel's blow, and before he knew it, he saw all his hopes fall to the ground as his shoulders slumped in defeat.

"VICTORY!" Daniel squealed out as he hopped up and down, relishing the look Nick gave him from across the ping-pong table in the Hopps family's rec room. The fox set his paddle down on the table's deep green surface before crossing his arms, the brown rabbit's happy-dance causing a playful growl to rise from his throat as the ping-pong ball skittered away across the floor.

"Best five out of seven," Nick said, trying to negotiate with Daniel so that he could come out on top of their ping-pong tournament.

"Uh-uh," came the dulcet voice of his partner from behind him as Judy strode into the rec room. "You guys have been at this for almost three hours now, I think you've had enough. Besides, dinner's almost ready."

"Oh, come on, Carrots!" Nick groaned. "Just a few more games, please?"

"What's the matter, Wilde?" said Daniel from beside him as he picked up the fallen ping-pong ball, his tone noticeably more amicable than it had been this morning at the train station. After a few minutes of awkward conversation earlier, the pair had chummed up rather quickly. "Can't handle losing to a  _bunny?_ "

"Trust me, Danny," Judy said to her little brother, "if Nick's not used to getting out-foxed by a rabbit by now, it's never gonna happen."

"As entertaining as it is watching my dad get his tail whipped in ping-pong," came the voice of Joseph from the other side of the room, where he had been idly chatting with Stu about the farm's operations, "some of us are actually hungry, guys."

"Fine," Nick muttered grumpily as his girlfriend gave him a sardonic pat on the back. "But after dinner I am gonna  _destroy_ you at that air hockey table, Danny Boy."

"Keep talkin', Wilde," the rabbit said with a sneer as he, Nick, Judy, Joseph, and Stu made their way from the rec room to the small dining room down the hall. There was a much larger dining room on the other side of the kitchen which reminded Joseph of the Great Hall at Hogwarts, but since there were only seven of them tonight, Stu and Bonnie had decided to seat their guests at the much smaller and cozier table on the west side of the massive farmhouse.

A few minutes later, Nick, Judy, Joseph, Daniel, Stu, and Mrs. Wilde were all seated around the family-sized table, with Stu and Joseph each having an empty seat next to them for Bonnie and Jamie, respectively. The smell coming from the swinging kitchen door in the back of the room was intoxicating, a wonderful blend of fruits, vegetables, sweets, and a half-dozen other aromas that tickled Joseph's hypersensitive nostrils. He felt his stomach growl in anticipation, and thankfully it wasn't long before Bonnie and Jamie wheeled out a massive kitchen cart piled high with Thanksgiving food. There was sweet potato casserole, roasted cauliflower and artichokes, scalloped potatoes, home-baked cornbread, roasted eggplant, and other scrumptious foods that had Joseph almost instantly drooling.

"Looks amazing as always, Mom," Judy said as her mother and sister placed the dishes in the center of the table, family-style.

"And it smells even better," added Joseph as he took a deep breath full of the scents of the feast before him. "Gosh, I'm starving." The fur on his tail suddenly bristled as he felt a gentle and all-too familiar paw glide across his shoulder. Having finished setting the table with her mother, Jamie took her seat next to her boyfriend, allowing her paw to linger on his arm for a split second before she spoke.

"Then you should probably dig in, Joey," the bunny said playfully to him as she settled herself into the chair on his right. The fox turned to his rabbit in order to make a response, but the words caught in his throat as he caught sight of her. He'd been so focused on the food when she came out of the kitchen that the kit hadn't even noticed that Jamie had changed her clothes. Now, it was hard to notice anything else.

Jamie had exchanged her t-shirt and jeans for a flowing gossamer gown the color of the sky, a shade or two lighter than her own eyes, which reached to just below her caramel knees. Aside from the wide straps of her dress, her shoulders and arms were bare, and the thin golden chain bearing her family's orange gemstone hung from her slender neck. Once again, Joseph could almost swear that the stone was glowing softly, radiating an energy that pulsed in time with his own heartbeat. The fox's amber eyes met Jamie's blue ones, and for a moment he was lost in her gaze. He could have sworn he'd been looking into Jamie's eyes for centuries when he heard her father speak up from across the table.

"Now, hold on there, young lady," Stu said, bringing Joseph out of the trance Jamie's eyes had put him in and sparing him from responding to what he couldn't help but think was Jamie's innuendo, "you know the rules. In this house, we say grace before we eat, especially on Thanksgiving."

"Right, right, of course," Jamie replied nonchalantly as she unfolded her napkin and placed on her lap. Joseph had to forcefully draw his eyes away from her graceful paws as he felt his heart rate climbing again. "So, food's all ready. Who'd like to say grace?"

Daniel piped up almost immediately, looking admittedly dashing in a dark gray dress shirt and black jacket. "As the eldest son here, I believe that honor goes to me," he stated proudly, stretching out his paws to his right and left to clasp those of his mother and eldest sister, respectively. He was about to begin the prayer when Bonnie interrupted him.

"Not so fast, Danny," the older doe chided him. "We have guests here this evening. It only seems right that we should give them the chance to say grace, don't you think?"

"Oh, yeah...I guess," the buck said, deflating somewhat. His blue eyes flitted to Mrs. Wilde, then to Nick, and finally rested on Joseph. The fox couldn't help but feel the fur on the back of his neck bristle at Daniel's gaze, which seemed colder when it landed on him. "So, who's it gonna be?"

"How about you, Joe?" Stu suggested as he tucked a napkin into his shirt collar to make an impromptu bib. "You're the newest member of this big ol' family, after all."

"Oh, I don't think that's the best idea," the kit replied jokingly. "I'm not exactly on the best terms with the Guy Upstairs."

"Well, one little prayer couldn't hurt, could it?" Jamie said sweetly from beside him. He glanced over and into her eyes again, his resolve melting instantly.

"Alright," Joseph said reluctantly. "If you insist." He felt himself suck in a breath as Jamie quickly laid her paw in his own, his mind going blank for a split second at the contact. A moment later, the strong paw of his father wrapped itself around Joseph's left paw, and soon all the mammals had formed an unbroken circle around the table. Doing his best to slow his breathing and calm his mind, Joseph began to say grace.

"Dear Lord," Joseph began solemnly, "uh...thank you for gathering us all here today and allowing all of us who have traveled to arrive safely. We, uh, ask your blessing on this food...and we thank you for...friends, and family, and...everything." The young reynard was quiet for a moment as he felt Jamie give his paw a gentle squeeze beneath the table. "Thank you," he finished at last. "Amen."

"Amen," came the response of the rest of the mammals around the table.

"Now let's eat!" Daniel proclaimed, eagerly grabbing at a plate full of stuffed peppers.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Nick agreed as he started to fill up his own plate.

Once the group of mammals started to eat, there were about ten solid minutes of uninterrupted chewing and chomping, the only words spoken at the table being requests to pass this or that dish. Joseph did his best to pace himself, but he was finding it more than a little bit difficult to resist Mrs. Hopps' delicious Thanksgiving fare. It didn't exactly help that his metabolism burned four times faster than a normal mammal's, meaning that he had to eat a lot more food in order to keep his energy up.

Once Stu had finished his second helping of caramelized sweet potatoes, he dabbed at his muzzle with a napkin and decided to speak up. "So," he announced, gaining the attention of everyone at the table, "now that we've all had at least a few bites to eat-or a few dozen in my case-" This comment was met with a collective snort of laughter from the group-"how's about we start going around the table and saying what we're thankful for?"

"Aw, come onf, Dadf," Daniel said from two seats to Stu's left, his mouth full of cornbread. He swallowed dryly and took a big gulp of iced tea before continuing. "Do we really have to-"

"Yes, Danny, we have to," Bonnie interrupted him, a stern motherly look crossing her face. "Every now and again, especially at this time of the year, everyone needs to take a moment and remember all the things they're grateful for. And I, for one, think everyone here has a lot to be grateful for."

"You can say that again, Mrs. Hopps," Nick said cooly, slinging his left arm around his partner's shoulder. Judy giggled at his touch and playfully tried to shoo him away, but only succeeded in getting herself pulled into a side-hug.

"Well, Nick, since you're so eager, how about you start us off?" Stu suggested, idly waving a yam on the end of a fork at the fox in question. "We can start with you and move to the right."

Nick nodded appreciatively. "Sounds good to me," he said, sitting up straight before beginning to list off the things he was grateful for. "So, let's see here…" The reynard drummed his fingers against his chin in a mock expression of deep thought. "Well, first of all, I'm thankful for the  _incredibly_ delicious meal that Mrs. Hopps has made for us-"

"Oh, stop it, you," Bonnie said meekly as a slight blush went through her ears at the praise.

"I'm also thankful that you all have accepted me into your family," Nick continued, his tone becoming more sincere, "I'm thankful for my wonderful job at the ZPD, for my amazing partner and the love of my life…" He turned to look into Judy's eyes, surprised by the sudden kiss she placed on his cheek at his words. After clearing his throat, he turned back to the table and continued. "And, more than anything else, I think...I'm thankful for the strong, kind, caring, wonderful young mammal that was brought into my life just last month, but who now I can't even begin to imagine life without." Joseph could hear his foster father choking up just a tiny bit as he laid a tender paw on his shoulder, and looked up to see tears shining in those big emerald eyes. "I'm thankful for my son, Joseph Wilde."

When he finished, Nick leaned over to his son and wrapped him in a tight hug, doing his best to keep the happy tears behind his eyes. "I love you, Joe," he whispered as he squeezed the kit's shoulders, hearing a sniffle from Joseph in return.

"Love you, too, Dad," the young fox said to his father as they slowly broke their embrace. They both tried to discreetly wipe at their eyes as Joseph cleared his throat and started his turn.

"I guess I'm next, huh?" he said shakily, pleased to hear a chorus of light laughter from the mammals around the table. He glanced around at all their faces and saw that each of them had a tender expression of awe in their eyes, even Stu-all except for Daniel. Joseph tried to ignore the calculating look in the young buck's eyes as he took a sip of water and spoke once more.

"What am I thankful for?" he asked himself out loud. "Jeez, where do I even begin? I'm thankful that I'm alive, that I have clothes on my back, food in my stomach, a roof over my head. I'm thankful that I have a warm bed to sleep in and a place to go when the sun goes down. I'm thankful that...I'm surrounded by people who love and care about me." Joseph glanced to his left and gave his father a glowing smile. "I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for Judy, who took me into her home out of the kindness of her heart when I had nowhere else to go. I'm thankful for Nick, who showed me what it was like to really have a father, to really be loved again…" He coughed into his fist in an attempt to hide the small sob that shook his narrow shoulders, then dabbed at his tearful eyes as he cast a glance over to Jamie. He looked into those sky-blue eyes of her and saw nothing but affection and support shining in them, and felt her thread her fingers into his own once more. He found himself wondering if this was the moment to make their relationship known, to tell Jamie's family that they were dating-but then he decided that that was her decision to make, not his. And so, he took a shuddering breath, and continued his speech.

"And…I'm thankful for Jamie," he said, hoping that his expression didn't betray his true emotions, "the best friend that I've ever had, who's been there for me when I needed it most."

"Oh, that was  _beautiful,_  Joseph," Bonnie said once the fox had finished. "I'm so happy for you. You and Nick are just so adorable together."

"You should see them when they're playing guitar together," Judy quipped lightly.

"Now that I  _have_ to see sometime," Stu said as he took a sip of iced tea. "Well, Jamie, looks like you're up next."

The beautiful doe sat up straight and straightened her dress, letting go of Joseph's paw in the process. "Alrighty," she said, her voice betraying a hint of nervousness. Joseph idly noticed that he could hear her heart rate picking up, but he was too enraptured by her beauty to wonder why.

"Well," the doe said, "first of all, I'm thankful for my wonderful family, especially getting to see my big dork of a brother-" A snort of laughter traveled around the table at that, with Daniel casting a playfully teasing look across the table at Jamie. "I'm thankful that I managed to graduate high school with flying colors and am now on my way to getting my dream job as a CSI. I'm thankful that I once again live within driving distance of my big sister-" She cast a smile over to Judy. "And…" The rabbit hesitated for a few moments, the unfinished sentence hanging in the air.

"And?" Bonnie asked as Jamie trailed off into silence. "Was there something else you were thankful for, sweetie?"

Joseph saw Jamie bite her lip nervously at the question, and suddenly smelled a spike in her adrenaline along with noticing an increase in her heart rate. The bunny took a deep breath, then gave a glowing smile as she continued.

"Yes, Mom, there is," she said, seeming suddenly more confident than she had been a moment ago. "What I am  _most_  thankful for this year is...I'm thankful for the sweet, caring, gentle, and downright adorable mammal whom I am pleased to call my boyfriend."

Joseph's heart stopped in his chest at the final word, his ears going straight and his eyes widening. He felt nearly paralyzed as his eyes flitted from Jamie to her parents, and saw Bonnie suck in an excited gasp.

"Oh, honey, you're  _seeing_  someone?" the doe asked enthusiastically. "For how long?"

"About...three weeks now, actually," Jamie said, a blush roaring through her ears.

 _Oh dear..._ Joseph thought to himself, his heart beginning to pound erratically inside of his chest.  _Here we go…_

"And when were you planning on telling us this?" asked Stu, more genuinely curious than anything.

"Tonight," replied Jamie smugly, a nervous smile on her face.

"Well, what's the lucky buck's name?" Jamie's mother asked as she leaned forward excitedly. "Is he handsome? Does he go to your school? Oh, is he going to be a CGI too?!"

"Okay, first of all, it's  _CSI_ , Mom," Jamie corrected. "'Crime Scene Investigator'. And, no, he doesn't go to my school. Actually…" The brown bunny took a deep breath and let it out through her nose. "He's...not a buck at all, Mom."

The elder doe's eyes widened a bit in surprise. "Oh," she said.

"Well," interjected Stu, "out with it, bun! Who is this mystery mammal you're so thankful for?"

Jamie was silent for a moment, a moment that seemed like an eternity to Joseph, an eternity in which every eye at the table was on Jamie and he had seemingly ceased to exist to their perception. He was suddenly brought back to reality as the nerves in his right arm flared up when Jamie gently but firmly slid her paw into his. She took one final deep breath, squeezing his paw tightly as she met her mother's eyes.

"His name…" Jamie intoned, a glowing smile spreading across her face as she slowly lifted their entwined paws to and laid them on the table, in plain view of everyone. "...his name is Joseph Nicholas Wilde."

The room was dead silent in the wake of Jamie's proclamation. Joseph never got to see the expressions on Stu and Bonnie's faces in the moments after they heard that he was dating their daughter, because his gaze was fixed on Jamie's eyes as she turned to face him, a smile on her face that could have lit up even the darkest corner of space.

"Jamie…" he breathed out in shock, the sound barely audible even in the silent dining room. He never got the chance to say anything more, however, as Jamie swiftly grabbed the tie that hung from the collar of his white dress shirt and pulled his muzzle down to hers, their lips meeting in a tender kiss.

All thoughts of her family's reactions vanished from Joseph's mind as Jamie kissed him. As it did every time their lips met, his mind went blank, his heart rate rose, and the only thing that was real to him in that moment was the feeling of the bunny's mouth on his own. The fox placed his right paw on Jamie's cheek as he kissed her back, the moment stretching out into an eternity until they finally broke apart.

Joseph was about to say something along the lines of  _"sly bunny",_  but he never got the chance. For, just as he sucked in a breath in an effort to calm his racing heart, the shocked and unquestionably infuriated voice of Jamie's twin brother burst out from across the table.

"What the  _fu-?_ "

* * *

Joseph sat on the couch in the Hopps' immensely large living room, his arms crossed over his chest in an attempt to hide the nervous trembling in his paws. He'd removed his tie in order to breathe better, as the stress of the current situation had made respiration something of a chore. His heart hammered anxiously in his chest as Nick's paw rubbed gentle circles across his tense shoulder blades, the action providing little comfort as the young kit beheld the scene before him.

Jamie and Daniel were standing in the middle of the living room, presently engaged in an extremely animated argument over Jamie and Joseph's relationship. Stu and Bonnie stood off to the side by the cold, dark fireplace, choosing to stand back and watch the exchange rather than get involved, and Judy sat in a recliner to Joseph's right. So far, Daniel had been too busy shouting for any of the older bunnies to offer their opinion on the matter.

" _No,_ " Daniel growled to his twin sister, his paws making a gesture that indicated he would not change his stance. "You are  _not_ dating this fox, Jamie, do you hear me?"

"In what universe is that  _your_ decision, Daniel?" the doe countered hotly, her nose twitching in irritation. "I'm an adult, for God's sake! I'm capable of making my own decisions and it's up to  _me_  who I do or don't date! Why the hell is this such a big problem for you anyway? You weren't upset when you found out that Nick and Judy were dating!"

"Oh, my God," the young buck said, his paws running over his face in a gesture of exasperation, as though he were arguing with a child. "Jamie, Nick is a  _cop_  and. How can you not see that this Joseph guy is  _bad for you?_ "

"'Bad for me'?" Jamie parroted back in disbelief. "How in the hell is Joseph  _bad_  for me? You don't even know him, you only met him six hours ago! Is it because he's a-"

"No, it's not because he's a  _fox,_ " Daniel spat, the venom in his tone indicating that Joseph's species was, in fact, at least part of the reason he was so opposed to this relationship. "That has nothing to do with it, okay? This guy was a freaking homeless orphan two months ago, and as if Judy taking him in wasn't crazy enough, now  _you're_  dating him? Squeaker, he could be a freaking serial killer for all we know!"

"That's bullscat and you know it," replied Jamie, her tone becoming more and more angry by the second. "You don't know a damn thing about Joseph-"

"THAT'S THE POINT!" Daniel screamed suddenly. Joseph ground his teeth together and felt his ears lay flat against his skull. He didn't take kindly to anyone speaking to Jamie that way, even if it was her brother. He'd kept mostly silent up to this point, knowing that there wasn't much he could say in his own defense, but if Daniel kept talking to Jamie like that, Joseph was going to have to step in.

"We don't know  _anything_ about him, Jamie!" Daniel continued. "All we know is that he showed up on Judy's doorstep one day and then for some godforsaken reason she decided to freaking  _adopt him!_  He could be plotting to rob you or kill you or god forbid ra-"

"Don't you  _dare_ finish that sentence," Joseph's girlfriend growled, her tone suddenly low and dangerous. "Don't you  _dare_ insinuate something like that about my boyfriend when you don't know  _jack_  about him."

"Then why doesn't the fox tell us about himself, huh?" asked Daniel, throwing his paws up in the air in frustration. "Why is that when Mom and Dad asked him about his past earlier that all he said was 'I don't like to talk about it'? What's he got to hide?"

"He doesn't want to talk about it because my son has been through shit you wouldn't  _believe,_ " Nick suddenly growled at Daniel, rising to his feet and walking up to the buck to stare down his nose at him. "Just because he doesn't want to talk to  _you_ about what he's been through doesn't mean he's not willing to talk about it at all."

"Why?" Daniel asked, taking a step back from the fox. He did his best to hide the fact that the larger vulpine was intimidating him more than a little. "Why is he willing to tell you and not us? I'll bet it's because if we found out whatever the hell it is that he's hiding from us, he knows we'd chase him out of here with pitchforks and torches!"

Nick was about to reply, but was cut off by the sound of his son's angered shout.

"I haven't told you the details about my past because you couldn't handle it if I did!" Joseph yelled at the rabbit, leaping up off of the couch as his entire body vibrated with anger and frustration. He had been successful so far at holding his rage back, but the influx of painful memories that the argument had stirred up in his mind prompted him to say something in his defense. If nothing else, it would refocus Daniel's anger from Jamie to himself. As he spoke, Joseph didn't even notice when Daniel's paw flinched towards the pocket of his jacket. "I've experienced things that would give your nightmares nightmares, Daniel. Jamie knows all about who I am and what I've been through because I  _trusted_ her enough to tell her, and by some miracle  _she doesn't care._ Neither do Nick or Judy. They don't care where I've been or what I've done because they know that I would  _kill myself_  before I ever hurt them."

Daniel scoffed loudly before responding. "You really expect me to believe that?" he asked venomously. "You really expect me to believe that some lying  _fox_ would ever put my family's needs before his own?"

"Daniel, that's  _enough-_ " Stu began to interject, but his words were quickly overshadowed by Joseph's increasingly angered words.

"No, I don't expect you to believe me," the enraged reynard said. "But y'know what? I DIDN'T ASK FOR ANY OF THIS! Okay?!" Joseph could feel his paws shaking in fury, his heart hammering away in his chest as he finally let the anger out. " _I didn't ask to get made!_ I didn't ask to be torn apart and put back together over and over and over and turned into some  _monster!_ " The kit clenched his fists tightly, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath before speaking again, this time in a much calmer tone. "I didn't ask for this. All I've ever wanted was a family who loves me, and that's what I have now. So as long as I have them, I really don't give a damn what you think of me."

Jamie's twin brother simply stared at the vulpine in shock for a moment before he made his response. "You're insane," the buck said with a humorless laugh. "You're completely out of your mind, fox." Without so much as another glance, the rabbit turned to his sister, grabbed her roughly by the arm and began dragging her forcefully towards the doorway. "Come on, Jamie, I'm getting you the hell away from this psycho."

"Daniel, let go of me!" Jamie ordered him as she tried to free herself from her brother's grip. His only response was to yank her further towards the door.

The second that Daniel put his paw on Jamie's arm and started pulling her against her will, everything inside of Joseph shifted into maximum overdrive. A white-hot fury unlike anything he'd ever felt tore through his chest and mind like a blazing inferno as his powerful legs propelled him forward. His paw, shaking with sudden rage at the way his girlfriend was being treated, grabbed at Daniel's shoulder in an effort to force him to release his hold on Jamie's arm. " _Take your paw off her-_ " he roared out to the rabbit. He never got to finish the sentence.

The moment that Daniel felt Joseph's paw on his shoulder, his left paw dove into his jacket pocket while his right released his hold on Jamie, trying to shove her out of the way of the altercation. The buck spun around to face Joseph, pulling the bright pink object from his pocket and jamming it straight into Joseph's chest. There was the briefest moment of pure shock where Joseph heard a crackle of electricity and caught the scent of singed fur, and then the pain hit him.

It was like the bison that had killed Wolford had slammed his fist into Joseph's sternum again, only this time the blow hurt ten times more. The fox was instantly flung backwards by a massive surge of electricity, his spine slamming into the back of the couch and tipping it over as pure agony shredded through every nerve ending in his body. He didn't even have time to react to the pain before the arcs of electricity reached his brain, and that's when all hell broke loose inside him.

In the space of a second, Joseph was back in Area 51. He was strapped to a table inside a glass tube, electricity racing through every cell in his body as the twisted HYDRA scientists tried to bring out the monster they had created. White-hot fire raced through his veins as he shouted and begged for death.

"KILL ME!" Joseph screamed at the top of his lungs. "PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU, KILL ME, MAKE IT STOP, PLEASE-"

But the pain kept coming. With adrenaline coursing through his veins, Joseph ripped his paws from the restraints, crashing through the glass above him and falling to the ground,his body writhing, his claws lashing out at the monsters that were causing him this pain. One of them approached him where he lay screaming amid the shattered glass, shouting his name so loudly Joseph was sure his eardrums would burst. He swiped out at the figure, raking his claws along it's arm. The figure backed away, and another, larger one immediately took its place, grabbing Joseph's shoulders and holding them tightly. The fox clamped his eyes shut and continued to shriek in pain as the figure screamed at him.

"JOSEPH!" the figure above him said. "Joseph, buddy, it's me! It's Nick, it's your dad! Joey, you're okay,  _wake up!"_

 _Nick..._  The name penetrated Joseph's anguished thoughts like a scalpel slicing through the haze of pain. It spoke of comfort, of love, of safety…

The young fox finally stopped thrashing about and grabbed hold of the figure who had wrapped its arms around him. He sucked in what seemed like a million deep breaths, and finally opened his eyes.

He was sitting on the floor of the Hopps' living room once again, amid shards of broken china from the cabinet he had crashed into. Nick had his arms around the younger fox's shoulders, and was gently rocking him back and forth and whispering words of comfort to him.

"It's okay, Joseph," Nick said soothingly as he pulled back to look his son in the eye. "You're okay, you're safe, no one's gonna hurt you."

Joseph took another gulp of air, wide, horrified orange eyes glancing around the room. "Wha-wha...what h-happened?" he stuttered.

"You had a panic attack, buddy," Nick said calmly, his paw gently stroking Joseph's head as though he were a young child. "Daniel used that... _goddamned_ Fox Taser on you and it must have triggered a flashback or something. But you're alright now, buddy. Are you hurt? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

The enraged voice of Jamie's twin brother came from somewhere off to Joseph's left. "He needs to go to a fucking  _mental hospital_  is where he needs to-" The sentence was cut off by the even more infuriated words of Joseph's girlfriend.

"Shut the  _fuck_ up, Daniel," Jamie spat with a venom Joseph had never thought here capable of. "I should call the cops on you for doing that."

"He  _attacked_ me!" Daniel defended, but Jamie no longer seemed to be listening. A moment later, she was kneeling next to Nick and Joseph on the ground, seemingly heedless of the shattered pieces of glass littering the carpet. A soft caramel paw was placed against his cheek, gently guiding his eyes to hers.

" _Joey,_ " the doe said through angry tears, bringing her other paw up to clasp Joseph's face. "Oh, my god, sweetie, I'm so sorry…"

The words barely even registered in Joseph's head as he gazed into her stunningly beautiful blue eyes, the sight of his Buttercup calming him instantly. "Jamie, I-" he started to say as his eyes moved from hers to trace themselves over the rest of her body. His words were instantly cut off when he happened to glance at Jamie's upper left arm, and his heart stopped in cold dread.

There, slicing across the caramel fur of Jamie's arm, were three shallow scratches, all the same length, each of them oozing tiny trickles of blood. Barely even able to comprehend what he was seeing, Joseph moved his eyes from Jamie's wounds down to his own paw-the paw that had just slashed out at what he had thought was a HYDRA scientist-and was horrified to see that the tips of his claws were red with blood.

Jamie's blood.

" _No_ ," Joseph muttered quietly, panic creeping back into his voice as he repeatedly moved his eyes between his claws and Jamie's bleeding arm. "Oh god, no...what did I do…" Disgusted with himself, the fox began to scoot backwards along the floor, trying to distance himself from his injured girlfriend as much as possible.

"Joey, baby, it's just a scratch," Jamie tried to assure him as she scuttled away. "See, it's already stopped blee-"

"' _Just a scratch'_?" came Daniel's acidic voice. "Goddammit, Jamie, he could have taken your arm off! He's nothing but a lying, manipulative  _monster-_ "

" _SHUT UP!"_ Jamie screeched back at him, more angry than she had ever been in her life. " _Shut your mouth right now before I show you what a real injury looks like, you bastard!"_  She turned back to face Joseph, silently hoping that her vulgarity hadn't upset him any further, and found that he had gotten to his feet, his horrified eyes staring down at his paws as though he had just killed someone. "Joey, he's wrong, don't listen to him…"

"I'm a  _monster_ ," Joseph choked out, seemingly not hearing his girlfriend's words. He looked up at her then, his eyes dripping with shameful tears as he spoke. "I'm a monster...I'm sorry...oh god, I'm  _so sorry..."_

"Sweetie, it's not your fault," Jamie assured her fox as she began to cry herself. "It was an accident, Joey, it doesn't even hurt-"

"I'm sorry," Joseph repeated, sobbing openly now as he wrapped his arms around himself. "Jamie, I...I'm  _so so sorry…_ "

The bunny was about to make another reply, but before any words could leave her lips, Joseph moved. With a sob of agony tearing itself from his throat, the fox leapt over the overturned couch, his body nothing but an orange blur as swift, strong feet carried him through the doorway, his tail almost knocking a lamp off an end table as he went. Jamie barely had time to turn towards him and call his name before she heard the sound of the front door slamming open and closed. Heedless of the broken glass or her family's cries of caution, Jamie raced out of the living room, down the hall and to the foyer, where she saw that the front door was wide open, her fox nowhere to be seen. Bracing herself against the empty door frame, the bunny could do little more than shout her boyfriend's name through her tears as Joseph vanished into the night.


	32. Perfect

Dead and dying autumn leaves crunched loudly beneath Joseph's feet as he stumbled his way through the trees, his breaths coming in short, ragged gasps. His chest still ached where the Fox Taser had struck him, but the pain in his sternum was bliss compared to the agony that was tearing away at his heart.

 _What did I do?_ the fox thought as his panicked feet carried him further and further into the woods, as far away from the Hopps farm as he could get.  _I hurt her...oh god, I hurt Jamie…_

He'd always known that something like this would happen eventually, known it down in his bones. It was just like that voice he'd heard in his dream last night-his destiny was dust and ashes, and everything he touched burned. Bile rose in his throat as he thought of all the horrible things he'd done...the marmot in the alley...Judy's eyes as he'd nearly choked the life out of her...bloody claw marks cutting through Jamie's perfect caramel fur…

A feral scream tore itself from Joseph's chest as the recalled his sins. The guilt from what he'd done was so intense it felt like he was getting tased all over again. The fox fell to his knees in agony, unable to keep going as the sobs began to wrack his body. He couldn't stop the wails of grief that rose up from the depths of his soul, and it was all he could do to crawl over the dead leaves and branches and prop himself up against a tree. Tears streaming from his eyes, Joseph rested his back against the rough bark of the massive oak, hugged his knees to his chest, and began to scream.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there, crying and howling in grief and despair. Minutes, hours, weeks perhaps. Time no longer had any meaning to him. There was only the pain, the grief, the guilt over what he'd done. He'd sworn to Jamie that he'd kill himself before he ever hurt her, and he'd broken that promise, He'd raked his claws across her flesh and made her bleed. His worst nightmare had finally come true.

It was some time before the vulpine's weeping and howling subsided into sobs, then sniffles, and eventually the odd choked breath. His eyes red and burning with salty tears, Joseph gazed up through the thinning canopy of the woods to the clear night sky. A million billion stars were shining in the inky blackness, untouched by mammal-made light from the ground below. A nearly-full moon hung amidst the stars, a bright and hopeful face that taunted Joseph with the false idea of hope. The moonlight leached the color out of his surroundings so that the ground, the trees, and even his own fur appeared to be a dull shade of gray. Dropping his chin to his chest as his heart sunk in despair, Joseph Wilde pondered on what he would do next.

It wasn't long before the answer found him.

His anguished screams had drowned out all other sound around him, and so Joseph had never heard her anguished cries as she called out his name. He never heard the soft crunch of her paws on the leaves, the rustle as her gossamer dress caught on the twigs and branches she passed. His cries of agony had guided her straight to him, and he never knew she was coming until she was already there.

"Joey?" Jamie called out into the silent woods, her voice breaking. "Joseph, sweetie, where are you?"

The fox's head snapped up the moment he heard the bunny's voice. Faster than lightning, he skittered to his feet and tried to hide from her, but Jamie's sensitive rabbit ears heard the rustle of leaves under his paws, and she caught sight of him before he could vanish into the darkness again.

"JOSEPH!" the rabbit shouted when her eyes caught the orange-and-white fluff of his tail, illuminated by the moon above them. "Joseph, stop! Please!"

Jamie's word's twisted Joseph's heart, and, despite knowing that she was safer if he was far away from her, he stopped in his tracks and turned around to face her. "You shouldn't be here," he choked out to her.

"Neither should you," the rabbit replied as she took a few more steps towards him. He instinctively backed up, not wanting to get too close for fear of hurting her again. "Joseph, why did you-"

"LEAVE!" the fox shouted suddenly, cutting off Jamie's words. "Jamie, please, for your own good, turn around and run before I hurt you again."

Jamie shook her head in what seemed to be shocked disbelief. "Joey, it was an  _accident!_ You had a panic attack, for god's sake! Besides, I'm fine, it's barely even a-"

" _It doesn't matter!_ " Joseph retorted, his voice cracking in anguish. It hurt him more than anything he could have imagined to try and force her away, but he knew in his heart that it was for her own good. "What matters is that  _I hurt you,_ Jamie! I could have  _killed_  you. I did the  _one thing_ I swore to myself I'd never do. It doesn't matter if it was an accident. If I did it once I could do it again, and there's no way in hell I'm gonna take that risk. I'm...I'm sorry."

"Joey-" the bunny began to say, but was cut off by Joseph's words once more.

"I knew this was gonna happen," the vulpine intoned darkly. "This is what  _always_ happens. Everything I touch burns. No matter where I go or what I do, I always manage to fuck everything up in the worst way possible. I...I'm done, Jamie. I can't do this anymore. This...this was all a mistake."

An expression of pained confusion crossed the angelic features of Jamie's face. "What are you talking about, Joseph?" she asked him. "What do you mean, 'this was a mistake'? What was?"

" _This_ ," Joseph growled through gritted teeth, gesturing at the space between them. He was growing increasingly frustrated that she was still here and pushing the issue. Why couldn't she just hate him and fear him like everyone else? Why couldn't she just run away to safety and leave him to suffer? " _Us,_ Jamie. Me thinking that I could be happy, that I could have a family. It was all a stupid, hopeful mistake. It was a mistake to ever let myself get attached to you or Nick or Judy because I  _knew,_  I knew in my  _heart_  that I would end up hurting you. I'm never taking that risk again,  _ever_. I'm a monster, Jamie. That's all I've ever been and that's all I'm ever going to be." He turned away from her, intending to run as fast as he could in the opposite direction. Before he could put one foot in front of the other, however, Jamie was at his side, her normally gentle caramel paw locking around his left wrist in a vise grip. He stopped in his tracks, realizing that she was trying to hold him back.

"That is  _bullshit_  and you know it, Joseph," Jamie told him, angry tears springing from her eyes. "You are  _not_  a monster. I don't care if you have that thing inside you, it is  _not who you are-_ "

The fox tore his arm out of Jamie's grip before she could finish, a steely look crossing his face as his heart broke inside him. "Leave, Jamie," he said through gritted teeth, doing everything he possibly could to keep his composure and not break down into tears again. " _Please_. Forget about me. Forget about whatever you think you felt for me because it was probably just pity anyway. Whatever it was...it wasn't real."

The moment he said those words, Jamie's face fell, her eyes widening in horrified shock. The look on her face hit Joseph like a knife in the heart. The words had stung her and he knew it. But he had to make it sting. He had to make her understand that whatever they had could never be, because it was simply too dangerous for her. "We both know you're better off without me, Jamie. Your brother was right. I'm bad for you."

"Joey, Daniel's just a stupid asshole," the bunny countered through a choked-back sob. "He doesn't know what he's talking about-"

" _I AM BAD FOR YOU, JAMIE!"_ Joseph screeched suddenly, as loudly as he could. He had to get her away from him before something worse happened, had to make sure that she wouldn't come after him ever again. If scaring her off was what it took to keep her safe, then so be it. "Can't you see that? Can't you see that you'd be better off if we'd never even met? Jesus, look what I  _did_  to you!" He gestured towards Jamie's left side, indicating the cuts that his claws had made in her upper arm. "Look what I did to your sister!  _I almost choked the life out of her, Jamie!_ "

"That w-wasn't you…" Jamie said, trying to reason with him, but Joseph didn't seem to hear her.

"Even if I didn't have this monster inside me that was capable of  _literally ripping you to pieces_ ," the fox raged on, "I'd  _still_  be bad for you. I'm  _broken_ , Jamie, inside and out, body and mind and heart and soul." Joseph threw his paws in the air and let them fall limply against his sides, his shoulders slumping in exhaustion and defeat. "You deserve better than that," he continued, much softer than before. His voice was now barely a whisper. "I'm a broken, mentally disturbed  _monster,_ and you deserve a prince, an angel like you. You deserve what I can never hope to give you."

Joseph turned away from the rabbit he cared for more than anything in any universe, sobbing quietly as he spoke. "You deserve someone perfect," he finished.

"God  _damn it_ , Joseph!" Jamie yelled at him as he began to walk away from her. "I don't  _want_  to be with someone perfect, I want to be with someone I  _love!_ "

The words hung there in the still night air, everything around the two mammals as silent as the grave. There was no wind, no chittering insects, nothing. Not even the crunch of leaves beneath Joseph's feet, as Jamie's words had stopped him in his tracks. Slowly, almost mechanically, the fox turned around to look into the bunny's tear-stained face, his eyes wide with shock at what he'd just heard.

"Wh...what?" he asked, utterly dumbfounded.

Jamie sniffed and wiped at her eyes before she replied. "I want to be with someone I love, Joseph," she said, her angelic voice trembling ever so slightly as she slowly proceeded towards her boyfriend. This time, he didn't turn or walk away. He simply stood as still as a statue as Jamie strode up to him and took his paws in her own. Eyes of blue met those of amber as she squeezed Joseph's paws, and finally breathed out the words she'd been waiting for what seemed like an eternity to say. "And I love  _you."_

The reynard's face went slack at Jamie's declaration, his jaw dropping and his eyes widening in an almost comical expression. He sucked in a shaky breath before closing his mouth and giving a miniscule shake of his head. " _No_ ," he choked out, fresh tears forming in his eyes. "No, Jamie, you  _can't_  love me-"

"But I  _do,_ " the bunny answered him sweetly, lifting her paws to clasp his tear-stained cheeks. She was crying openly now, tears cutting pathways through the caramel-and-cream fur of her face. "Joey, you are kind, and sweet, and caring, and gentle, and brave, and heroic, and  _everything that is good in the world_. I don't care if you're not perfect. You're perfect to  _me_."

A sob found its way out of Joseph's muzzle as his legs began to quake. It felt like all the energy was being sapped from his body as his heart hammered away within his chest. He was trying with all his might to not let himself believe what Jamie was saying, because there was just no way she could possibly be telling the truth. There was no way she could really love him...could she?

"Please," Joseph said weakly. "Jamie,  _please_ don't...you c-c-can't love me...I'm a  _monster_ …"

"No, you are  _not._  You're a hero, Joey. You're  _my_  hero."

The words were too much for Joseph's fragile heart to handle, and Jamie almost had to catch him as his knees buckled beneath him and he fell to the forest floor, sobbing like a child. "Look at me, Joseph," she told him, clasping his face tightly between her paws.

After a moment, the fox obeyed, opening his eyes and locking them on Jamie's. He gazed into those pools of pure and heavenly blue, and he saw the unthinkable shining through them.

Love.

" _I love you, Joseph Wilde,"_ Jamie intoned solemnly, her voice shaking with emotion. Joseph could only suck in a ragged breath at the words, and was unable to make any other reply as Jamie swiftly leaned in and firmly pressed her lips to his.

The fox melted into the kiss instantaneously, every ounce of fight going out of him as Jamie wrapped her paws around his head and parted his lips with her own. Her breath poured into him, and, after a moment of dumbfounded hesitation, he eagerly sucked it in, the sensation of the kiss suddenly shifting his brain into overdrive. Electricity cascaded across his synapses as he breathed in the bunny's scent. He lifted his paws to Jamie's back and pressed her against himself, deepening their kiss even more. He bore down on his girlfriend's mouth and was surprised when she pressed back with just as much passion.

The couple had shared many kisses in the last few weeks, but this one was unlike any other. It was raw, primal, packed with emotion and something a thousand times deeper, something that no words could ever hope to describe. The air seemed to crackle with energy, and it wasn't until Joseph nearly passed out due to lack of oxygen that the pair finally broke the kiss.

Joseph pulled back from Jamie, his chest heaving and his heart pounding as he gazed into her eyes again. Having that empty space between them, however, even for a split second, was too much for Joseph to bear after tonight, and he pulled her into his arms again, wrapping her in a fierce hug as he buried his snout in the crook of her neck. He took a few moments just to breathe in her scent, her wonderful, pure, angelic scent, and then, at long last, Joseph made his reply.

"I love you more," he whispered to his bunny.

There was a moment of silence before Jamie slowly pulled away, her paws remaining clamped onto Joseph's shoulders as she looked him in the eye. "Wh-what?" she asked. "You...you love me, too?"

A bark of laughter burst from Joseph's muzzle at the question, as though the answer should be the most obvious thing in the world. "Of  _course_ I do, Jamie," the fox told her as he cupped her cheeks gently in his paws, fresh tears of joy streaming from his eyes. "How could I not? You...Buttercup, you're  _perfect_. I've loved you since the day we met."

Now it was Jamie's turn to laugh, not in disbelief, but in total and absolute elation. A smile that was brighter than a thousand splendid suns broke across the bunny's face, and she wasted no time in diving forward to press her lips to Joseph's once more. When they broke apart again, she planted a number of kisses on both of Joseph's cheeks before leaning back to look in his eyes again.

"I love you, Joey," she told him, her heart singing with joy.

Joseph placed a gentle paw on Jamie's cheek, using his thumb to wipe away a happy tear at the corner of her eye. "I love you too, Jamie," he choked out. He leaned forward to gently boop his nose against Jamie's, happier in this moment than he had ever been in his life.

Joseph wasn't sure how long they sat there together amidst the trees and fallen leaves. Time no longer seemed to exist as he held that perfect bunny in his arms, the one he loved more than anything-the one who loved him back. For a long while the pair simply sat, Jamie pressed against Joseph's chest as he held her close to him, his paw softly stroking her long, silky ears. Every now and again, the fox would lean down to press a feather-light kiss on the top of Jamie's head, and more then once she raised her lips to his again. It wasn't until the moon above them had moved halfway across the sky that Jamie decided to speak again.

"Hey, Joey?" the rabbit said quietly.

"Mm-hmm?" replied the fox, his snout pressed against the top of his girlfriend's head as his paw gently played with one of her ears.

"There's something I wanna show you."

"What's that?" Joseph asked as he pulled back a little to gaze upon the bunny's face. Jamie looked into his eyes before she responded, and saw in them no trace of the fear or pain or guilt that had consumed him earlier. She only saw love.

Jamie gave her boyfriend a light peck on the cheek as she stood up, her legs a little stiff from sitting in Joseph's lap for so long. She offered her paw to Joseph and helped him get to his feet, holding on to him as she began to move deeper into the woods.

"Come with me," she said with a smile so sweet it made Joseph's heart throb.

"Okay," he said, still more than a little in shock from the fact that Jamie had admitted that she was in love with him. He let the bunny tug on his paw and lead him deeper into the woods, not caring where they went or what they were doing so long as they were together.

It only took a few minutes for the couple to reach their destination, one that Jamie had visited so many times that she could find her way to it from almost anywhere in the woods. She'd discovered it when she was fourteen whilst wandering in the woods near the farm, and, as far as she knew, she was the only one in the family who knew of it.

Jamie looked back at the boy she loved and gave him a glowing smile as she pulled him past the last trees into the wide open space. The trees vanished from around them and Joseph found himself standing in the middle of a small meadow in the middle of the woods, a wide space free of trees that was teeming with wildflowers. The change of the seasons seemed to have no effect here, as all the flowers seemed to be healthy and thriving. A cool night breeze blew through the meadow as Jamie led her boyfriend to the center, and the moon shone down from above and illuminated their surroundings with a pale and almost unearthly light. Jamie stopped in the middle of the sea of grass and wildflowers, then grasped Joseph's other paw in hers as she looked up at him.

"What do you think?" she asked, her voice little more than a whisper.

"It's beautiful," Joseph replied, his eyes scanning the small space and the trees that surrounded them. "Quiet and peaceful…just like you."

She couldn't stop the blush that spread through her ears when he said that. "I found this place a few years ago," she explained. "As far as I know, I'm the only one in the family that knows about it. I came out here whenever I was sad or stressed...it was my sanctuary."

"Thank you for sharing it with me, Jamie," said Joseph, gently rubbing Jamie's paw between his fingers. "Thank you for everything." He leaned down once more and kissed Jamie on the lips, the taste of her on his tongue making his mind go blank and his knees shake.

"I love you," Jamie whispered breathlessly when they finally broke apart a minute later.

"I love you more," Joseph responded, carefully brushing his nose against the bunny's velvety cheek. He couldn't help but grin at the little shiver that went through her body at the action.

"Dance with me?" she asked suddenly.

The reynard let out an airy chuckle. "I'd love to," he told her, "but we don't have any music to dance to." In answer, Jamie merely smiled wryly at him as she moved his paws to rest on her hips and placed her own on his shoulders. Then, with a voice so soft and light and pure and beautiful that Joseph was certain he was listening to an angel, Jamie began to sing to him.

_I found a love for me_

_Darling, just dive right in_

_And follow my lead_

_Well, I found a fox, beautiful and sweet_

_I never knew you were the someone waiting for me…_

Tears of joyful love began to drip from Joseph's eyes again as Jamie sang her way into the pre-chorus of the song, one that had come out recently and which he had listened to countless times while thinking of her. Their bodies slowly began to sway from side to side to the steady beat of Jamie's voice.

_'Cause we were just kids when we fell in love_

_Not knowing what it was_

_I will not give you up this time_

_But darling, just kiss me slow, your heart is all I own_

_And in your eyes you're holding mine_

_Baby, I'm dancing in the dark with you between my arms_

_Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song_

_When you said you were a mess, I whispered underneath my breath_

_But you heard it: Joey, you are perfect tonight_

Jamie softly hummed the instrumental portion of the song as the two spun in a slow and steady circle, orange eyes locked on the blue. She hoped and prayed that he could hear in the words she sang how much she meant them, hoped that he could see in her eyes that she loved him with all her heart-because she could see by the look in his eyes that he loved her just as much.

When she was about to start the second verse of the song, she was surprised when Joseph began to sing it for her. His voice was ever so slightly choked with heartfelt emotion, and she felt the rumble of his chest against her own as he continued right where she had left off.

_Well I found a woman, stronger than anyone I know_

_She shares my dreams, I hope that someday I'll share her home_

_I found a love, to carry more than just my secrets_

_To carry love, to carry children of our own_

_We are still kids, but we're so in love_

_Fighting against all odds_

_I know we'll be alright this time_

_Darling, just hold my hand_

_Be my girl, I'll be your man_

_I see my future in your eyes_

_Jamie, I'm dancing in the dark with you between my arms_

_Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song_

_When I saw you in that dress, looking so beautiful_

_I don't deserve this, Jamie, you are perfect tonight_

By the time Joseph reached the end of the chorus, he had leaned down to gently press his nose against Jamie's, his eyes locked on hers as he sang. Just like the first time they had danced together, every word that he sang was true, every syllable and note dripping with affection and pure, infinite love. He loved this little bunny with all of his heart, mind, and soul, and she finally knew it. And, by some miracle, by some mysterious alignment of all the stars and planets...Jamie Hopps loved him, too.

As Joseph entered the final stanza of the song, Jamie began to sing in tandem with him, their voices aligning perfectly and complementing each other as though they had done this a thousand times before. Their voices rose in volume as they sang to each other, each mammal unable to contain the raw love they felt inside.

_Baby, I'm dancing in the dark with you between my arms_

_Barefoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song_

_I have faith in what I see_

_Now I know I have met an angel in person_

_And you are perfect_

_I don't deserve this, darling you are perfect tonight_

Their lips met once again in a tender kiss as they completed the song. Joseph wrapped his arms around his lover and scooped her up like a child, putting one arm under her knees and one under her shoulders as he continued to kiss her softly. He broke the kiss and spun her around in a gentle circle, eliciting a playful giggle frum the bunny's muzzle. The moonlight shone in her eyes, and Joseph knew then and there that Jamie Hopps was the meaning of his life. There would never be anyone or anything else but her. His perfect little Buttercup.

"I love you," she whispered softly to him as she laid a caramel paw against his cheek. The words were sweeter than any music he had ever heard.

"I love you, too, Jamie," Joseph replied sweetly. "Always have, always will."

"Always?" Jamie questioned, amazement and love in her eyes.

"Always," Joseph repeated, hugging the bunny close to himself as though she were his source of life. "To infinity and beyond."

* * *

The journey back to the farmhouse took them almost an hour, and it was nearing ten o'clock when they finally walked through the front door into the eerily silent house. Motioning for Joseph to be quiet, Jamie quickly peeked out of the foyer into the lower rooms of the house in order to avoid her parents. She heard them speaking softly in the kitchen, and the pair managed to inch their way past without them hearing. A loving smile on her face and a glimmer in her eye, Jamie led her boyfriend by the paw up two flights of stairs, making her way into the hallway where her bedroom was situated.

Just as Jamie and Joseph quietly approached the door to Jamie's old bedroom, they heard the soft creak of an opening door from behind them, accompanied by the flushing of a toilet. They turned to find the source of the noise, and Joseph felt his heart contract momentarily as Daniel emerged from the bathroom on the left side of the hall, wearing a ratty old BBHS t-shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants. As soon as he raised his eyes from the empty can of Miller Lite in his paw, they locked on Joseph's face, immediately flitting to where the fox's paw was clasping his sister's.

"Hey!" the rabbit shouted, dropping the can on the hardwood floor and sprinting toward the couple as though he believed Joseph was about to attack his twin sister. He had closed half the distance between them when Jamie gave Joseph's paw a tight squeeze, then let go of it and strode forward to meet her brother in the middle of the hall. " _Take your stinking paws off my sister, you damn dirty f_ -"

Whatever word the lagomorph had been about to say was abruptly cut short as Jamie walked up to him, pulled back her right arm, and drove her fist so hard into Daniel's mouth that it sent him wheeling into the wall. A loud  _crack_ accompanied the impact of flesh against flesh, and Daniel had to brace his paw against the wall to hold himself up as his head spun. Joseph could only watch in total and complete shock as Daniel spat onto the pristine hardwood floor in front of him, and saw a tooth fly out of his mouth amidst a dribble of blood.

"Jamie, what the hell are you-" The rabbit's words were cut off yet again as Jamie's caramel paws grabbed hold of her brother's shirt, lifting him clear off of his feet and slamming him up against the wall so hard that the family pictures shook ten feet away. The bunny was visibly shaking, not from the sudden breeze cutting through her silky dress from the window at the end of the hallway, but from pure and absolute rage. She'd run out of the house after Joseph almost as soon as he had left, and so had not yet had time to properly confront her brother for what he had done to her boyfriend. Now that she knew that Joseph was okay and had Daniel in her sights, Jamie was so furious that she didn't even feel the gentle pressure of her boyfriend's paw on her arm as she shrieked into her brother's face.

"Don't you  _ever,_ " she shouted at Daniel, " _EVER_ hurt him again! Do you hear me?!  _Do you hear me, Daniel?!_ " She gave him another shove against the wall, ignoring Joseph's gentle efforts to tug her away from her brother and his pleas for her to calm down.

"Sweetie, let him go," the fox told her tenderly, a little unsure of why exactly he was trying to stop his girlfriend from beating the crap out of the guy who had tased him just a few hours ago. "Jamie, Buttercup, it's not worth it-"

The doe ignored his words, continuing to scream into her brother's shocked face, his eyes wide and showing just a hint of real fear. "I swear to  _God,_ Daniel, if you  _ever_ touch my Joey again,  _I will make you pay_ ," she growled, her normally angelic voice almost turning predatory. "Do you understand me,  _brother?_  The next time you raise a paw to my fox will be the  _last time you have paws._ " She didn't wait for his response, but merely threw him to the floor and turned around to face her boyfriend, not sparing her bleeding, humiliated brother a second glance.

"Jamie…" Joseph said, his tone shocked. "]Your paw, are you-" His words were left unspoken as his bunny leapt up, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed her lips to his in a passionate kiss. Immediately forgetting everything else in the universe, the fox wrapped his arms tightly around his one true love, holding her close to his chest as he kissed her in return.

When she breathlessly pulled away a few seconds later, Joseph could actually hear Daniel gritting his teeth at the words she spoke, even as his heart rate spiked for what felt like the millionth time tonight. "I love you, Joey," she told him, laying her paw on his cheek. Even though it still felt impossible, Joseph could see in those gorgeous blue eyes that she meant it. He leaned down to press his nose to hers as he whispered his reply.

"I love you too, Jamie," he said, feeling himself choke up yet again.

Without a word and without looking back at her dumbfounded brother, Jamie grabbed her fox's paw and led him down the dimly lit hall and into her bedroom, the door shutting behind her with a fateful  _click._


End file.
